Self-licensing and financial rewards: is morality for sale?

Sophie Clot (1, 2) , Gilles Grolleau (1) , Lisette Ibanez (1)

1 LAMETA - Laboratoire Montpelliérain d'Économie Théorique et Appliquée
2 ENSA M - Ecole Nationale Supérieure Agronomique de Montpellier

This paper studies the impact of financially rewarding good deeds on self-licensing. We run a between-subjects experiment comprised of an adapted dictator game preceded by paid and unpaid pro-environmental tasks. We find that prefacing the dictator game with an unpaid good deed seems to establish a 'moral rectitude' which licenses subsequent selfish behaviour, whereas a paid good deed dampens this effect. Interestingly, the nature of the initial task has more of an effect on the binary option (give vs. not give) than on the amount donated.

Mots clés: self licensing; behavioural experiment; financial rewards; pro-environmental behaviour; altruism; indirect effect; behavioral economics

Mots clés: altruisme; effet indirect; économie comportementale; éthique environnementale; économie expérimentale

Domaines: Sciences du Vivant [q-bio]

Sophie Clot, Gilles Grolleau, Lisette Ibanez. Self-licensing and financial rewards: is morality for sale?. Economics Bulletin, 2013, 33, pp.2298-2306. ⟨hal-01499044⟩