Collection of Delinquent Fines: An Adaptive Randomized Trial to Assess the Effectiveness of Alternative Text Messages

TY - JOUR

T1 - Collection of Delinquent Fines

T2 - An Adaptive Randomized Trial to Assess the Effectiveness of Alternative Text Messages

AU - Haynes, Laura C.

AU - Green, Donald P.

AU - Gallagher, Rory

AU - John, Peter

AU - Torgerson, David J.

PY - 2013/9/1

Y1 - 2013/9/1

N2 - The collection of delinquent fines is a vast and ongoing public administration challenge. In the United Kingdom, unpaid fines amount to more than 500 million pounds. Managing noncompliant accounts and dispatching bailiffs to collect fines in person is costly. This paper reports the results of a large randomized controlled trial, led by the UK Cabinet Office's Behavioural Insights Team, which was designed to test the effectiveness of mobile phone text messaging as an alternative method of inducing people to pay their outstanding fines. An adaptive trial design was used, first to test the effectiveness of text messaging against no treatment and then to test the relative effectiveness of alternative messages. Text messages, which are relatively inexpensive, are found to significantly increase average payment of delinquent fines. We found text messages to be especially effective when they address the recipient by name.

AB - The collection of delinquent fines is a vast and ongoing public administration challenge. In the United Kingdom, unpaid fines amount to more than 500 million pounds. Managing noncompliant accounts and dispatching bailiffs to collect fines in person is costly. This paper reports the results of a large randomized controlled trial, led by the UK Cabinet Office's Behavioural Insights Team, which was designed to test the effectiveness of mobile phone text messaging as an alternative method of inducing people to pay their outstanding fines. An adaptive trial design was used, first to test the effectiveness of text messaging against no treatment and then to test the relative effectiveness of alternative messages. Text messages, which are relatively inexpensive, are found to significantly increase average payment of delinquent fines. We found text messages to be especially effective when they address the recipient by name.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84883788015&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1002/pam.21717

DO - 10.1002/pam.21717

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:84883788015

SN - 0276-8739

VL - 32

SP - 718

EP - 730

JO - Journal of Policy Analysis and Management

JF - Journal of Policy Analysis and Management

IS - 4

ER -