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Reluctant Recyclers: Social Interaction in Responsibility Ascription

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Author Info
Brekke, Kjell Arne () (Dept. of Economics, University of Oslo)
Kipperberg, Gorm () (Colorado State University)
Nyborg, Karine () (Dept. of Economics, University of Oslo)

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Abstract

Several studies have demonstrated that individual contributions to public goods are increasing in others’ contributions. The underlying causes for this, however, are not yet fully understood. We present a model of duty-orientation in which moral responsibility is learned through observations of others’ behavior. Since, in our model, responsibility is a burden, we hypothesize that individuals will be reluctant to accept responsibility based on uncertain information. Econometric analysis of data from a survey on households’ glass recycling indicates that perceived responsibility is a major determinant for reported recycling; that responsibility ascription is influenced by beliefs about others’ behavior; and that people are indeed reluctant to accept responsibility based on uncertain information.

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by Oslo University, Department of Economics in its series Memorandum with number 16/2007.

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Length: 38 pages
Date of creation: 02 Feb 2009
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:hhs:osloec:2007_016

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Postal: Department of Economics, University of Oslo, P.O Box 1095 Blindern, N-0317 Oslo, Norway
Phone: 22 85 51 27
Fax: 22 85 50 35
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Web page: http://www.oekonomi.uio.no/indexe.html
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Related research
Keywords: Voluntary contributions; duty-orientation; recycling; joint FIML estimation;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
D11 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Theory
D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
D64 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Altruism
Q53 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Air Pollution; Water Pollution; Noise; Hazardous Waste; Solid Waste; Recycling

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References listed on IDEAS
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