In Confucius Lives Next Door  journalist T.R. Reid tells the story of living in Tokyo and being constantly surprised by the signs encouraging socially beneficial behavior.  He asked himself, "Does this mean that the Japanese have to constantly be minded to make them do right?"  

In the end he concluded the opposite, in "Western" cultures we focus more on punishing bad behavior through social sanction giving people the idea that everyone is cheating and only idiots don't do so.  By reinforcing good behavior the Japanese get better outcomes that we in the West do by punishing bad behavior.  Because everyone always hears about what was done right.

And I'll give my consent to any government that does not deny a man a living wage-Billy Bragg