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Incorporating Conditional Morality into Economic Decisions

Author

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  • Masclet, David

    (University of Rennes)

  • Dickinson, David L.

    (Appalachian State University)

Abstract

We present a framework that incorporates both moral motivations and fairness considerations into utility. The main idea is that individuals face a preference trade-off between their material individual interest and their desire to follow moral norms. In our model, we assume that moral motivation is conditional and may be influenced by others' actions. Specifically, in our framework moral obligation is a combination of two main components: an autonomous component and a social influence component that captures the influence of others. Our framework is able to explain many stylized results in the literature and to improve theories of economic behavior.

Suggested Citation

  • Masclet, David & Dickinson, David L., 2019. "Incorporating Conditional Morality into Economic Decisions," IZA Discussion Papers 12782, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp12782
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    Cited by:

    1. Dickinson, David L., 2023. "Dark versus Light Personality Types and Moral Choice," IZA Discussion Papers 16338, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Levati, M. Vittoria & Nardi, Chiara, 2023. "Letting third parties who suffer from petty corruption talk: Evidence from a collusive bribery experiment," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    3. Dickinson, David L. & Masclet, David, 2023. "Unethical decision making and sleep restriction: Experimental evidence," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 484-502.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    fairness; ethical decision making; moral motivation; behavioral economics;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • B3 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought: Individuals
    • D6 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics
    • D9 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics

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