A Fine is a Price

Gneezy (2000) ยท The Journal of Legal Studies

Gneezy, U., & Rustichini, A. (2000). 'A Fine is a Price.' The Journal of Legal Studies, 29(1), 1-17. 10 private day-care centres in Haifa, studied over 20 weeks in 1998, six randomly selected for the fine and four controls. From week five a notice announced a fine of ten shekels per child for collection more than ten minutes after closing, paid to the owner. Late collections in the fine group rose over three to four weeks and settled at almost twice the initial level; removing the fine at week seventeen did not bring the rate back down; the control group showed no change. The authors offer an incomplete-contracts account and a social-norms account and decline to choose, and say explicitly that they do not claim the effect is similar every time a fine is introduced and that a large enough fee would have reduced the behaviour. It is a fine and not a reward, and the behaviour is a chore and not an interesting task.

Gneezy, U., & Rustichini, A. (2000). 'A Fine is a Price.' The Journal of Legal Studies, 29(1), 1-17. 10 private day-care centres in Haifa, studied over 20 weeks in 1998, six randomly selected for the fine and four controls. From week five a notice announced a fine of ten shekels per child for collection more than ten minutes after closing, paid to the owner. Late collections in the fine group rose over three to four weeks and settled at almost twice the initial level; removing the fine at week seventeen did not bring the rate back down; the control group showed no change. The authors offer an incomplete-contracts account and a social-norms account and decline to choose, and say explicitly that they do not claim the effect is similar every time a fine is introduced and that a large enough fee would have reduced the behaviour. It is a fine and not a reward, and the behaviour is a chore and not an interesting task.

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Gneezy, U., & Rustichini, A. (2000). A Fine is a Price. The Journal of Legal Studies, 29(1), 1-17.