Do markets erode social responsibility?

Björn Bartling and Roberto Weber

No 6, UBSCENTER - Working Papers from UBS International Center of Economics in Society - Department of Economics - University of Zurich

Abstract: This paper studies the stability of socially responsible behavior in markets. We develop a laboratory product market in which low-cost production creates a negative externality for third parties, but where alternative production with higher costs entirely mitigates the externality. Our data reveal a robust and persistent preference for avoiding negative social impact in the market, reflected both in the composition of product types and in a price premium for socially responsible products. Socially responsible behavior in the market is generally robust to varying market characteristics, such as increased seller competition and limited consumer information. Fair behavior in the market is slightly lower than that measured in comparable individual decisions.

Keywords: Social responsibility; markets; externalities; competition; fairness (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C92 D03 D62 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-com and nep-exp
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Do Markets Erode Social Responsibility? (2015)
Working Paper: Do markets erode social responsibility? (2014)
Working Paper: Do Markets Erode Social Responsibility? (2013)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zur:uceswp:006

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