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Social norms are typically thought to be persistent and long-lasting, sometimes surviving through growth, recessions, and regime changes. In some cases, however, they can quickly change. This paper examines the unraveling of social norms in communication when new information becomes available, e.g., aggregated through elections. We build a model of strategic communication between citizens who can hold one of two mutually exclusive opinions. In our model, agents communicate their opinions to each other, and senders care about receivers' approval. As a result, senders are more likely to express the more popular opinion, while receivers make less inference about senders who stated the popular view. We test these predictions using two experiments. In the main experiment, we identify the causal effect of Donald Trump's rise in political popularity on individuals' willingness to publicly express xenophobic views. Participants in the experiment are offered a bonus reward if they authorize researchers to make a donation to an anti-immigration organization on their behalf. Participants who expect their decision to be observed by the surveyor are significantly less likely to accept the offer than those expecting an anonymous choice. Increases in participants' perceptions of Trump's popularity (either through experimental variation or through the "natural experiment" of his victory) eliminate the wedge between private and public behavior. A second experiment uses dictator games to show that participants judge a person less negatively for publicly expressing (but not for privately holding) a political view they disagree with if that person's social environment is one where the majority of people holds that view.

Zonder onderwerpscode: economie

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We study the role of morality in the decision to repay debts. Using a field experiment with a large Islamic bank in Indonesia, we find that moral appeals strongly increase credit card repayments. In our setting, all of the bank's late-paying credit card customers receive a basic reminder to repay their debt one day after they miss the payment due date. In addition, two days before the end of a ten-day grace period, clients in a treatment group also receive a text message that quotes an Islamic religious text stating that "non-repayment of debts by someone who is able to repay is an injustice." This message increases the share of customers meeting their minimum payments by nearly 20%. By contrast, sending either a simple reminder or an Islamic quote that is unrelated to debt repayment has no effect on the share of customers making the minimum payment. Clients also respond more strongly to this moral appeal than to substantial financial incentives: receiving the religious message increases repayments by more than offering a cash rebate equivalent to 50% of the minimum repayment. Finally, we find that removing religious aspects from the quote does not change its effectiveness, suggesting that the moral appeal of the message does not necessarily rely on its religious connotation.

Zonder onderwerpscode: economie

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This paper studies the role of morality in the decision to repay debts. Using a field experiment with a large Islamic bank in Indonesia, the paper finds that moral appeals strongly increase credit card repayments. In this setting, all of the banks late-paying credit card customers receive a basic reminder to repay their debt one day after they miss the payment due date. In addition, two days before the end of a ten-day grace period, clients in a treatment group also receive a text message that cites an Islamic religious text and states that "non-repayment of debts by someone who is able to repay is an injustice." This message increases the share of customers meeting their minimum payments by nearly 20 percent. By contrast, sending either a simple reminder or an Islamic quote that is unrelated to debt repayment has no effect on the share of customers making the minimum payment. Clients also respond more strongly to this moral appeal than to substantial financial incentives: receiving the religious message increases repayments by more than offering a cash rebate equivalent to 50 percent of the minimum repayment. Finally, the paper finds that removing religious aspects from the quote does not change its effectiveness, suggesting that the moral appeal of the message does not necessarily rely on its religious connotation.

Access to credit --- Adverse selection --- Arrears --- Assets --- Bank indonesia --- Banking --- Bankruptcy and resolution of financial distress --- Banks and banking reform --- Borrowers --- Checking account --- Collect debts --- Collections --- Communications --- Consumer choice --- Consumer choices --- Credit card --- Credit card debt --- Credit control --- Credit market --- Current debt --- Customer service --- Customers --- Debt --- Debt forgiveness --- Debt markets --- Debt relief --- Debt repayment --- Debtor --- Debts --- Default --- Deposit --- E-Business --- Emerging markets --- Equity --- Equity fund --- Estate private sector development --- Ethical behavior --- Ethical global equity --- Ethical global equity fund --- Exchange --- Fair trade --- Finance and financial sector development --- Financial development --- Financial products --- Forgiveness --- Gambling --- Global equity --- Goods --- Grace period --- Grants --- Human capital --- Human rights --- Income --- Indebted --- Indebted poor countries --- Insurance --- Interest --- Interest rate --- Interest rates --- Interested party --- International bank --- Investment --- Investment management --- Investor --- Islamic bank --- Islamic law --- Late payment --- Law --- Liquidity --- Liquidity constraint --- Loan --- Loan repayment --- Moral hazard --- Moral suasion --- Mortgage --- New credit --- Outsourcing --- Outstanding debt --- Partner bank --- Payment --- Payments --- Peer pressure --- Penalties --- Penalty --- Political economy --- Portfolio --- Price --- Pricing --- Property --- Public debt --- Real estate --- Repayment --- Repayment behavior --- Repayment of debt --- Repayment of debts --- Repayment rate --- Repayment rates --- Responsible investment --- Restructuring --- Revenue --- Risk --- Saving --- Savings --- Savings account --- Savings accounts --- Services --- Share --- Shares --- Socially responsible investment --- Sovereign debt --- Stocks --- Student debt --- Student loans --- Trade --- Usury laws

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This paper studies the role of morality in the decision to repay debts. Using a field experiment with a large Islamic bank in Indonesia, the paper finds that moral appeals strongly increase credit card repayments. In this setting, all of the banks late-paying credit card customers receive a basic reminder to repay their debt one day after they miss the payment due date. In addition, two days before the end of a ten-day grace period, clients in a treatment group also receive a text message that cites an Islamic religious text and states that "non-repayment of debts by someone who is able to repay is an injustice." This message increases the share of customers meeting their minimum payments by nearly 20 percent. By contrast, sending either a simple reminder or an Islamic quote that is unrelated to debt repayment has no effect on the share of customers making the minimum payment. Clients also respond more strongly to this moral appeal than to substantial financial incentives: receiving the religious message increases repayments by more than offering a cash rebate equivalent to 50 percent of the minimum repayment. Finally, the paper finds that removing religious aspects from the quote does not change its effectiveness, suggesting that the moral appeal of the message does not necessarily rely on its religious connotation.

Access to credit --- Adverse selection --- Arrears --- Assets --- Bank indonesia --- Banking --- Bankruptcy and resolution of financial distress --- Banks and banking reform --- Borrowers --- Checking account --- Collect debts --- Collections --- Communications --- Consumer choice --- Consumer choices --- Credit card --- Credit card debt --- Credit control --- Credit market --- Current debt --- Customer service --- Customers --- Debt --- Debt forgiveness --- Debt markets --- Debt relief --- Debt repayment --- Debtor --- Debts --- Default --- Deposit --- E-Business --- Emerging markets --- Equity --- Equity fund --- Estate private sector development --- Ethical behavior --- Ethical global equity --- Ethical global equity fund --- Exchange --- Fair trade --- Finance and financial sector development --- Financial development --- Financial products --- Forgiveness --- Gambling --- Global equity --- Goods --- Grace period --- Grants --- Human capital --- Human rights --- Income --- Indebted --- Indebted poor countries --- Insurance --- Interest --- Interest rate --- Interest rates --- Interested party --- International bank --- Investment --- Investment management --- Investor --- Islamic bank --- Islamic law --- Late payment --- Law --- Liquidity --- Liquidity constraint --- Loan --- Loan repayment --- Moral hazard --- Moral suasion --- Mortgage --- New credit --- Outsourcing --- Outstanding debt --- Partner bank --- Payment --- Payments --- Peer pressure --- Penalties --- Penalty --- Political economy --- Portfolio --- Price --- Pricing --- Property --- Public debt --- Real estate --- Repayment --- Repayment behavior --- Repayment of debt --- Repayment of debts --- Repayment rate --- Repayment rates --- Responsible investment --- Restructuring --- Revenue --- Risk --- Saving --- Savings --- Savings account --- Savings accounts --- Services --- Share --- Shares --- Socially responsible investment --- Sovereign debt --- Stocks --- Student debt --- Student loans --- Trade --- Usury laws

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We study the role of morality in debt repayment, using an experiment with the credit card customers of a large Islamic bank in Indonesia. In our main treatment, clients receive a text message stating that "non-repayment of debts by someone who is able to repay is an injustice." This moral appeal decreases the share of delinquent customers by 4.4 percentage points from a baseline of 66 percent, and reduces default among the customers with the highest ex-ante credit risk. Additional treatments help benchmark the effects against those of direct financial incentives, understand the underlying mechanisms, and rule out competing explanations, such as reminder effects, priming religion, signaling the lender's commitment to debt collection, and provision of new information.