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The social contract in the laboratory. An experimental analysis of self-enforcing impartial agreements

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  • Marco Faillo
  • Stefania Ottone
  • Lorenzo Sacconi

Abstract

Social contract theories are based on the idea of the “consent of the governed,” according to which norms, rules and institutions, constitutions in particular, must be based on the general consensus (or unanimous consent) of the individuals who are subject to the regulation. The article reports the results of an experiment aimed at identifying the conditions for the emergence of a self-enforcing social contract in the laboratory. Our main result is that spontaneous compliance with a non-self-interested norm of distribution is likely to occur if individuals have been part of the same process of ex ante agreement on the distributive norm under a ‘veil of ignorance,’ to which the emergence of reciprocal expectations of conformity is also related. This is in line with Rawls’s idea of an endogenous ‘sense of justice’ stabilizing ex post institutions that would have been ex ante chosen in the original position. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media New York 2015

Suggested Citation

  • Marco Faillo & Stefania Ottone & Lorenzo Sacconi, 2015. "The social contract in the laboratory. An experimental analysis of self-enforcing impartial agreements," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 163(3), pages 225-246, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:pubcho:v:163:y:2015:i:3:p:225-246
    DOI: 10.1007/s11127-015-0246-y
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Giacomo Degli Antoni & Marco Faillo & Lorenzo Sacconi & Pedro Francés-Gomez, 2016. "Distributive Justice with Production and the Social Contract. An Experimental study," Econometica Working Papers wp60, Econometica.
    2. Virginia Cecchini Manara & Lorenzo Sacconi, 2019. "Governance, Reforms and Crowding out Risk in Italian CCBs," Econometica Working Papers wp72, Econometica.
    3. Virginia Cecchini Manara & Lorenzo Sacconi, 2019. "Compliance with socially responsible norms of behavior: reputation vs. conformity," Econometica Working Papers wp73, Econometica.
    4. Wolf, Stephan & Dron, Cameron, 2020. "The effect of an experimental veil of ignorance on intergenerational resource sharing: empirical evidence from a sequential multi-person dictator game," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 175(C).
    5. Klaudijo Klaser & Lorenzo Sacconi & Marco Faillo, 2021. "John Rawls and compliance to climate change agreements: insights from a laboratory experiment," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 21(3), pages 531-551, September.
    6. Klaser, Klaudijo & Mittone, Luigi, 2022. "Can the rawlsian veil of ignorance foster tax compliance? Evidence from a laboratory experiment," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 200(C), pages 99-113.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Social contract; Social norms; Distributive justice; Beliefs elicitation; Dictator games; C72; C91; D02; D63;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C72 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Noncooperative Games
    • C91 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Individual Behavior
    • D02 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Institutions: Design, Formation, Operations, and Impact
    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement

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