Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/71718 
Year of Publication: 
2013
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 7334
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
This paper proposes a theory of the relationship between prohibitions and temptation. In presence of self-control problems, moral values may increase individual material welfare (and utility) by serving as a self-commitment device. The model investigates the relationship between morality and temptation, the individual gains from morality, the interaction between external sanctions and moral self-punishment and the spread and strength of individually optimal moral values. The empirical analysis, based on survey data for a large set of countries, documents a hump-shaped pattern of morality in social class, which supports the theoretical predictions of the model.
Subjects: 
prohibitions
temptation
self-control
moral values
crime
JEL: 
D03
K42
Z13
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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