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Tax morale, public goods, and politics: Experimental evidence from Mozambique

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  • Wayne Aaron Sandholtz
  • Pedro C. Vicente

Abstract

Tax revenue is vital for development, but governments must balance raising revenues with maintaining political support. Partnering with a city government in Mozambique, we experimentally vary the provision of information highlighting the role of municipal tax revenues in 1) local public good provision and 2) local political autonomy. We measure how this information affects property owners’ tax morale and political support for the government. Public goods information raises tax morale, especially in areas of low baseline public good provision, but has no effect on voting. The political message increases electoral support generally, but raises tax morale only among co-partisans. These results suggest that communication about the uses of public revenue offers a politically feasible way to increase tax morale.

Suggested Citation

  • Wayne Aaron Sandholtz & Pedro C. Vicente, 2024. "Tax morale, public goods, and politics: Experimental evidence from Mozambique," Nova SBE Working Paper Series wp2404, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Nova School of Business and Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:unl:unlfep:wp2404
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Fernandez Sierra, Manuel & Gonzalez-Navarro, Marco & Quintana-Domeque, Climent, 2025. "Local Public Goods and Property Tax Compliance: Experimental Evidence from Street Pavement," IZA Discussion Papers 18082, IZA Network @ LISER.
    2. Priya Manwaring & Tanner Regan, 2025. "No Shame in my Name: Public Disclosure and Tax Compliance in a low-capacity state," Working Papers 2025-010, The George Washington University, The Center for Economic Research.

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    JEL classification:

    • O12 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
    • H00 - Public Economics - - General - - - General
    • P00 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - General - - - General
    • C93 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Field Experiments

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