Reciprocal, but inequality averse as well? Mixed motives for punishment and reward

Andreas Leibbrandt, Raúl López-Pérez and Eli Spiegelman

Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 2023, vol. 210, issue C, 91-116

Abstract: Considerable experimental evidence indicates that reciprocity and inequality aversion are important motivations to understand deviations from self-interested behavior, and in particular costly punishment and reward. We use a within-subject experimental design to evaluate the share of subjects whose second-party reward and punishment choices are best accounted for by pure reciprocity, pure inequality aversion, a mixture of these two motives, or other motivations like altruism or competitiveness. We find that the largest fraction of punishment and rewards is motivated by a mixture of both inequality aversion and reciprocity, while smaller fractions are primarily motivated by pure inequality aversion and pure reciprocity. These findings provide new insights into the literature on other-regarding preferences and may help to organize some results in the experimental literature on second-party punishment and reward.

Keywords: Heterogeneity; Inequality aversion; Monetary punishment/reward; Reciprocity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C70 D01 D63 D90 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:210:y:2023:i:c:p:91-116

DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2023.03.028

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