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Do people intervene to make others behave prosocially?

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  • Ackfeld, Viola
  • Ockenfels, Axel

Abstract

We experimentally investigate people's willingness to intervene in others' decision-making in order to promote a charitable donation. We find that only a minority of those subjects who would donate themselves enforce the donation by banning the selfish choice from the decision-maker's choice menu. Bans are more acceptable if they are implemented only after the decision-makers could choose between the selfish and the prosocial option themselves. Also, many subjects decide against offering decision-makers a monetary incentive to switch from the selfish to the prosocial choice. We discuss potential hypotheses about underlying motivations for the (non-)usage of interventions, with a special focus on the hypothesis that interventions to promote prosocial choice are more acceptable the more they respect the autonomy of others.

Suggested Citation

  • Ackfeld, Viola & Ockenfels, Axel, 2021. "Do people intervene to make others behave prosocially?," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 58-72.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:gamebe:v:128:y:2021:i:c:p:58-72
    DOI: 10.1016/j.geb.2021.03.005
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    3. Ambuehl, Sandro & Blesse, Sebastian & Doerrenberg, Philipp & Feldhaus, Christoph & Ockenfels, Axel, 2023. "Politicians' social welfare criteria - An experiment with German legislators," ZEW Discussion Papers 23-013, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    4. Jana Freundt & Holger Herz & Leander Kopp, 2023. "Intrinsic Preferences for Choice Autonomy," CESifo Working Paper Series 10342, CESifo.

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