Scham- und Schuldgefühl: Zur ökonomischen Bedeutung zweier kulturell motivierter Emotionen / Shame and Guilt: On the economic meaning of two emotions gained with culture

In this paper, we intend to clear in the first place, how today’s sciences of psychology and sociology define and understand shame and guilt. In a second step, we document how experimental and psychological game theories as well as traditional economic theory intend to detect the occurrence of shame and guilt. Now as it stands, both the political economy of emotions, the psychological game theory and experimental economics seem to show a great deal of insecurity and lack of sharpness when making use of these two notions. Thereafter, we discuss the guidance and the selection functions which are associated with the feelings of shame and guilt during competition on markets and/or as a part of bargaining processes. Finally, we ask whether it could become a task for policy makers to take action vis-à-vis the emotions of shame and guilt by means of a weak paternalism. Conclusions and the scope for future research end the article.