Nighttime ethics: Do moral choices differ by time-of-day/night?

David Dickinson

No 26-07, Working Papers from Department of Economics, Appalachian State University

Abstract: We examine time-of-day (TOD) effects on moral choice by comparing afternoon (DAY: 3pm- 5pm) and nighttime (NIGHT: 3am-5am) decisions across three incentivized tasks. While the NIGHT treatment successfully induced sleepiness, we report no evidence that circadian suboptimality shifts decisions towards oneÕs default ethical tendencies. Rather, the NIGHT treatment increased dishonesty in a victimless Die-Roll task but not when dishonesty harms another participant (modified Coin-Flip task) or in consequential moral dilemmas affecting only othersÕ outcomes (Payoff-Trolley task). Exploratory evidence from response times suggests immorality results from deliberative processes. Overall, these results indicate that moral choice exhibits task-dependent stability during circadian fatigue. Key Words: behavioral economics, honesty, Trolley problem, moral choice, sleep

JEL-codes: C90 D01 D91 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
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