The Fragility of Social Norms: Evidence from a Youth Reformative Training Center

Speaker: A/Prof Huailu Li

Affiliation: Fudan University

Location: Level 6 Boardroom (629), Colin Clark Building (#39), St Lucia Campus

Zoom: https://uqz.zoom.us/j/82603079317

Abstract: We study how preferences and beliefs sustain a culture of misbehavior in a Youth Reformative Training Center (RTC). Although most youths privately oppose institutional offenses, they underestimate peers’ support for positive behavior. In a population-level randomized controlled trial, publicly revealing peer attitudes narrowed this belief gap and sharply reduced offenses, even among youths with accurate priors. New entrants, unexposed to the treatment, showed no comparable improvement, highlighting the role of public learning. The results demonstrate that social norms are dynamic and fragile: they can shift quickly when peer beliefs are revealed but erode just as fast when turnover disrupts shared knowledge