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Paying people to change behaviour doesn’t always work.

When trying to ban single use plastic bags from supermarkets, for example, a popular suggestion is to reward people for using reusable bags.

A less popular suggestion is to penalise those who don’t.

Well, here’s what behavioural research tells us.

In a study across 16,000 US shoppers, when people were paid a 5c BONUS for reusable bags, it did NOTHING to change behaviour.

When shoppers were hit with a 5c PENALTY, use of plastic bags d...