Editing Psychological pricing (section)

===In public policy===
Research has also found psychological pricing relevant to the study of politics and public policy.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Ashworth|first1=J.|last2=Heyndels|first2=B.|last3=Smolders|first3=C.|year=2003|title=Psychological taxing in Flemish municipalities|journal=Journal of Economic Psychology|volume=24|issue=6|pages=741–762|doi=10.1016/j.joep.2003.06.002}}</ref> For instance, a study of Danish municipal income taxes found evidence of "odd taxation" as tax rates with a nine-ending were found to be over-represented compared to other ending digits.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Olsen|first1=A. L.|year=2013|title=The politics of digits: evidence of odd taxation|journal=Public Choice|volume=154|issue=1–2|pages=59–73|doi=10.1007/s11127-011-9807-x|s2cid=154232495}}</ref> Further, it was found that citizens' evaluations of public-school districts in a Danish population changed noticeably based on the leftmost digit. In particular, the researchers looked at minuscule changes in average grades that shifted the leftmost digit. Once this value changed, citizens responded more drastically and as such their stance in terms of public policy on the issue changed.<ref>Olsen, A. L. (2013). Leftmost-digit-bias in an enumerated public sector? An experiment on citizens' judgment of performance information. Judgment and Decision Making, 8(3), 365–371.</ref>

MacKillop ''et al.'' (2014) looked at how the left-digit effect affects the relationship between price hikes and smoking cessation.  There was a very clearly demonstrated inverse relationship between the price of cigarettes and individual's motivation to smoke.  Researchers found that price hikes that impacted the leftmost digit in the price (i.e. $4.99 vs. $5.00) were particularly effective in causing change among adult smokers.  These findings can be utilized by public policy researchers and legislators to implement more effective cigarette tax policies.<ref>{{Cite journal|first1=James|last1=MacKillop|first2=Michael T.|last2=Amlung|first3=Ashley|last3=Blackburn|first4=James G.|last4=Murphy|first5=Maureen|last5=Carrigan|first6=Matthew J.|last6=Carpenter|first7=Frank|last7=Chaloupka |title=Left-digit price effects on smoking cessation motivation|url=https://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/23/6/501|journal= Tobacco Control|date=13 July 2013|volume=23|issue=6|pages=501–506|doi=10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2012-050943|pmid=23868397|pmc=9848773 |s2cid=9734003}}</ref>