Appealing, threatening or nudging? Assessing various communication strategies to promote tax compliance
通过在拉脱维亚对3813家企业进行实地实验，研究不同沟通策略（规范性呼吁、审计概率、助推）对工资低报和税收遵从的影响，发现发送消息能短期提升合规，其中5%审计概率加规范性呼吁的组合效果最佳。
This study examines the effect of various communication strategies on wage underreporting and tax compliance. Employing a field experiment with 3813 businesses in Latvia—a country marked by substantial wage underreporting—this research utilizes advanced data analytics to disseminate messages from the tax authority to firms whose declared wages substantially lag behind industry and regional averages. Messages ranged from normative appeals to audit probabilities and nudges. The immediate result was a notable increase in compliance in the first four months after the intervention, with firms elevating average wage levels. While the specific content of messages did not result in distinct long-term compliance behavior, the overall effectiveness of sending messages was affirmed. We identify a message combining 5% audit probability with normative appeals as the most effective one in enhancing tax revenues and triggering minimal negative feedback from the message receivers.