Whereas Schmölders had seen no possibility to influence workers’ savings behavior effectively, he formulated a more ambitious goal for development policy. Behavioral research was supposed to develop methods to “effectively and responsibly influence the motives and attitudes of economic actors.” Besides development policy, Schmölders also advocated further international comparisons of financial psychology in order to distinguish different tax mentalities that would determine the acceptance and effectiveness of various taxes. In his view, there were constant aspects of human behavior that could not be altered at all, and variable parts that were formed and influenced by political, social, and cultural factors that were subject to change and could be changed intentionally.

Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, loc. 337