[lastofus]

I'm curious what the fine level was relative to the income of the parents, and if the fine was viewed more as a convenience fee than a penalty.

I'm thinking if the fine was raised to a high enough dollar amount, tardiness would again drop off, or at the very least, revenue would increase enough to justify hiring someone to stay late...

[toomuchtodo]

I don't think income plays into it. It converts the transaction of one of spending social capital (social mores, trust) to financial capital; social capital, IMHO, is harder to acquire, therefore far more valuable.

Anyways, because you asked:

http://rady.ucsd.edu/faculty/directory/gneezy/pub/docs/fine....

"It is true that a ‘‘large enough’’ fee would eventually reduce the behavior. For instance, many day-care centers in the United States clearly announce a fee for coming late at the start of the year, and this fee is large and proportional to the length of the delay. The resulting penalty is more severe for the average delay than the nonlinear fine we introduced in our study, even after adjusting for difference in prices and incomes in the two countries. Casual observation shows that there are few delays, but we have not examined if the average delay is different from the one in our sample. Comparing the two systems would be an interesting research project."

[smokey_the_bear]

The daycares my kids have gone to have all charged a moderate late fee, but said very explicitly that if you are habitually late, you will be kicked out of the daycare.

One of the daycares at 5:30 would just take the kids with her on her nightly errands, and you'd have to run all over town to find them at the grocery store or whatever.

These are both ways of making it clear that it is socially unacceptable to be late.

[ytjohn]

The daycare we enrolled our kid at has a $12 fee for every 15 minutes past their closing time. I think that's priced steep enough to discourage, and also on par with having to pay two adults to stay later (they have a two adults with the children at all times policy).