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Personal norms — and not only social norms — shape economic behavior

Author

Listed:
  • Bašic, Zvonimir

    (Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods, Bonn)

  • Eugenio Verrina

    (Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods, Bonn)

Abstract

We propose a simple utility framework and design a novel two-part experiment to study the relevance of personal norms across various economic games and settings. We show that personal norms — together with social norms and monetary payoff — are highly predictive of individuals’ behavior. Moreover, they are: i) distinct from social norms across a series of economic contexts, ii) robust to an exogenous increase in the salience of social norms, and iii) complementary to social norms in predicting behavior. Our findings support personal norms as a key driver of economic behavior.

Suggested Citation

  • Bašic, Zvonimir & Eugenio Verrina, 2020. "Personal norms — and not only social norms — shape economic behavior," Discussion Paper Series of the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods 2020_25, Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods, revised 12 Oct 2023.
    • Handle: RePEc:mpg:wpaper:2020_25
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Michael Kurschilgen, 2023. "Moral awareness polarizes people’s fairness judgments," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 61(2), pages 339-364, August.
    2. Marco Catola & Simone D'Alessandro & Pietro Guarnieri & Veronica Pizziol, 2021. "Personal and social norms in a multilevel public goods experiment," Discussion Papers 2021/272, Dipartimento di Economia e Management (DEM), University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy.
    3. Kölle, Felix & Quercia, Simone, 2021. "The influence of empirical and normative expectations on cooperation," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 190(C), pages 691-703.
    4. Merguei, Nitzan & Strobel, Martin & Vostroknutov, Alexander, 2022. "Moral opportunism as a consequence of decision making under uncertainty," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 197(C), pages 624-642.
    5. Behnk, Sascha & Hao, Li & Reuben, Ernesto, 2022. "Shifting normative beliefs: On why groups behave more antisocially than individuals," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 145(C).
    6. Marco Catola & Simone D'Alessandro & Pietro Guarnieri & Veronica Pizziol, 2021. "Personal norms in the online public good game," Discussion Papers 2021/276, Dipartimento di Economia e Management (DEM), University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Personal norms; social norms; social image; elicitation method; normative conflict;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C91 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Individual Behavior
    • D01 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Microeconomic Behavior: Underlying Principles
    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • D64 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Altruism; Philanthropy; Intergenerational Transfers
    • D91 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making

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