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Lying with heterogeneous image concerns

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  • Zakharov, Alexei

Abstract

We study reporting in a lying game where the agents differ in two characteristics: the intrinsic cost of lying, and the social cost due to one’s report being perceived as a lie. We show that making lying more socially costly can lead to making lying more frequent. This happens because increasing the social cost for a subset of agents will make them choose high-value reports less frequently, making such reports less socially costly for the rest of the agents, and inviting them to lie more.

Suggested Citation

  • Zakharov, Alexei, 2023. "Lying with heterogeneous image concerns," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 228(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:228:y:2023:i:c:s0165176523002021
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2023.111177
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Bašić, Zvonimir & Quercia, Simone, 2022. "The influence of self and social image concerns on lying," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 162-169.
    2. Uri Gneezy & Agne Kajackaite & Joel Sobel, 2018. "Lying Aversion and the Size of the Lie," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 108(2), pages 419-453, February.
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    5. Kiryl Khalmetski & Dirk Sliwka, 2019. "Disguising Lies—Image Concerns and Partial Lying in Cheating Games," American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 11(4), pages 79-110, November.
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    7. Johannes Abeler & Daniele Nosenzo & Collin Raymond, 2019. "Preferences for Truth‐Telling," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 87(4), pages 1115-1153, July.
    8. Fries, Tilman & Gneezy, Uri & Kajackaite, Agne & Parra, Daniel, 2021. "Observability and lying," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 189(C), pages 132-149.
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    Keywords

    Lying; Incentives; Social image;
    All these keywords.

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