Economic development is linked with increased state capacity including the ability to mobilise
domestic tax resources. For many developing countries, high levels of informality are a major
constraint in this regard. Yet, economic incentives like changing the tax rate or increasing the
filling and audit rate can be ineffective in a highly informal economic structure. In this paper,
we explore possible roles for behavioural interventions such as sharing information about
peers’ tax behaviour to engineer higher tax compliance. Based on an artefactual field
experiment among own account workers in Nigeria, we find that information interventions can
play an important role in ensuring tax compliance. Specifically, targeting information around
what people can directly observe can be a way to improve tax compliance. Providing
information on punishment or good practices that appeal to feelings of morality yields higher
tax compliance.
Funding
Default funder
History
Publisher
Institute of Development Studies
Citation
Adeniran. A., Ekeruche. A. and Onywkwena. C. (2021) 'The Role of Social Influence in Enforcing Tax Compliance: Experimental Evidence from Nigeria,' ICTD Working Paper 122, Brighton, Institute of Development Studies, DOI: 10.19088/ICTD.2021.011