Can better behavior be coerced?

Morality is always regulated in two ways: internally — when you do the right thing because it's the right thing to do; and externally — when you do the right thing because society prevents or hinders you from doing the wrong thing. The former is accomplished through education and persuasion; the latter through penalty and force. So, for example, Cato the Elder on the one hand exhorted his fellow Romans to develop within themselves the qualities of frugality and modesty, and on the other, as censor he expelled a man from the senate for kissing his wife in public.

But coercion can be economic, as with the current rise in gasoline prices. Every day we're bombarded with tips on how to save money by reducing trips, reducing our speed, better maintaining our vehicles, and so forth. I've noticed that many of these tips have always been S.O.P. for me, and in any case, I put only about 6,000 miles a year on my car.

As someone who is old enough to remember the energy crises of 1970s, I recall that the changes in behavior we saw then — such as drivers buying more fuel-efficient cars, and folks raising thermostats in the summer to save on air conditioning and lowering them in the winter to save on heat — seemed to go by the wayside when energy prices fell in the 1980s. So I wonder how permanent the current behavioral changes brought by today's high fuel bills will be if energy prices stabilize or fall.