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I might be a liar, but I am not a thief: An experimental distinction between the moral costs of lying and stealing

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  • Hermann, Daniel
  • Mußhoff, Oliver

Abstract

In this study, we shed light on the different moral costs of lying and stealing. To accomplish this, we set up a die-rolling task in which participants could increase their own payout through lying or theft. The results show that participants have fewer reservations about lying compared to stealing, which implies higher intrinsic costs for stealing.

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  • Hermann, Daniel & Mußhoff, Oliver, 2019. "I might be a liar, but I am not a thief: An experimental distinction between the moral costs of lying and stealing," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 163(C), pages 135-139.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:163:y:2019:i:c:p:135-139
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2019.05.009
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    Cited by:

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    2. Eszter Czibor & Danny Hsu & David Jimenez-Gomez & Susanne Neckermann & Burcu Subasi, 2022. "Loss-Framed Incentives and Employee (Mis-)Behavior," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(10), pages 7518-7537, October.
    3. Lilleholt, Lau & Schild, Christoph & Zettler, Ingo, 2020. "Not all computerized cheating tasks are equal: A comparison of computerized and non-computerized versions of a cheating task," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    4. Chua, Scott Lee & Chang, Jessica & Riambau, Guillem, 2022. "Lying behavior when payoffs are shared with charity: Experimental evidence," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    5. Hermann, Daniel & Brenig, Mattheus, 2022. "Dishonest online: A distinction between observable and unobservable lying," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    6. Andrea Albertazzi, 2022. "Individual cheating in the lab: a new measure and external validity," Theory and Decision, Springer, vol. 93(1), pages 37-67, July.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Lying; Deception; Stealing; Laboratory experiment; Behavioral economics;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C91 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Individual Behavior
    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design

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