Social Norms as Constraints for Policy Changes

Social norms guide human behavior because they embody the collective expectations that members of a community have about each other. Yet, norms guiding behavior also means norms putting constraints on behavior and on behavior change. Using lab experiments founded in theory, the aim of this project is to study the consequences of constraints of social norms. We investigate how social norms constrain the implementation of policy reforms and the consequences hereof for the speed of reform. We aim to show how evolving social norms influence the degree to which controversial policies are accepted, and how to best implement reforms that run counter to existing norms - all at once or gradually.