2023-03-30
43 分钟Every year, Americans short the I.R.S. nearly half a trillion dollars. Most ideas to increase compliance are more stick than carrot — scary letters, audits, and penalties. But what if we gave taxpayers a chance to allocate how their money is spent, or even bribed them with a thank-you gift?
Hey there, it's Stephen Dubner.
In the US, where free economics radio is based, we are approaching a special day.
Millions of people in the US are getting ready to file income tax returns, but the thought of doing it can be daunting.
If only there were a way to make tax paying a bit more enjoyable, perhaps even meaningful.
That's the theme of the episode you're about to hear.
It's an update of a show we first published a few years ago.
It's called how to hate taxes a little bit less.
Hope you enjoy.
I never thought people would give money to government voluntarily.
I ran this experiment to show that.
Katherine Eckel is an economist at Texas A and M university.
But then it turned out that people will give money to government voluntarily if they support what the government is doing.
Just to be clear, Eckel is talking about people giving money to the government above and beyond what they owe in taxes.
This experiment she ran has some history.
So in the 1990s, my collaborator Phil Grossman and I, we were looking at the experimental research on what are called dictator games.
Dictator games had grown out of another lab game called ultimatum, which in turn grew out of a famous game theory experiment called the prisoners dilemma.
Anyway, in the Dictator game, in the.
Dictator game, you have an amount of money and you have an option to give.
Some of it say to me, the gift is anonymous.
Nobody's watching you.