Egalitarian motive and altruistic punishment

James H. Fowler (), Tim Johnson and Oleg Smirnov
Additional contact information
James H. Fowler: University of California, Davis
Tim Johnson: Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Center for Adaptive Behaviour and Cognition
Oleg Smirnov: University of Oregon, 1284 University of Oregon

Nature, 2005, vol. 433, issue 7021, E1-E1

Abstract: Abstract Arising from: E. Fehr & S. Gächter Nature 415, 137–140 (2002); E. Fehr & S. Gächter reply Altruistic punishment is a behaviour in which individuals punish others at a cost to themselves in order to provide a public good. Fehr and Gächter1 present experimental evidence in humans indicating that negative emotions towards non-cooperators motivate punishment, which, in turn, provokes a high degree of cooperation. Using Fehr and Gächter's original data, we provide an alternative analysis of their experiment that suggests that egalitarian motives are more important than motives for punishing non-cooperative behaviour. This finding is consistent with evidence that humans may have an evolutionary incentive to punish the highest earners in order to promote equality, rather than cooperation2.

Date: 2005
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (31)

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DOI: 10.1038/nature03256

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