Public opinion and politics are strongly influenced by economic theory and economic policy advice. Most of the underlying economic reasoning is based on the assumptions of a universal homo oeconomicus. Whether people act according to these assumptions is an empirical question, however. In this paper we report evidence of controlled laboratory experiments, which clearly indicates that contrary to the standard assumptions, reciprocity and fairness are central motives of human behavior. This has important implications for policy advice. We discuss several examples, e.g., tax moral, the design of the welfare state, hidden costs of incentives, wage rigidities and the economics of crime. Copyright Verein für Socialpolitik und Blackwell Publishers Ltd, 2003
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James Andreoni & Brian Erard & Jonathan Feinstein, 1998.
"Tax Compliance,"
Journal of Economic Literature,
American Economic Association, vol. 36(2), pages 818-860, June.
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