Delegating to a Powerless Intermediary: Does It Reduce Punishment?

Zachary Grossman and Regine Oexl

University of California at Santa Barbara, Economics Working Paper Series from Department of Economics, UC Santa Barbara

Abstract: Beyond the classical reasons of efficiency, commitment, the distribution of information, or incentive provision, a person may also delegate decision rights so as to avoid blame for an unpopular or immoral decision. We show that by delegating to an intermediary, a dictator facing an allocation decision can effectively shift moral responsibility onto the delegee even when doing so necessarily eliminates the possibility of a fair outcome. Dictators who choose selfishly via an intermediary are punished less and earn greater profits than those who directly choose a selfish outcome, while the intermediary is punished more.

Keywords: intermediation; delegation; punishment; responsibility; attribution; blame shifting; experimental economics; behavioral economics; Social and Behavioral Sciences (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011-08-30
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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