Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/232729 
Year of Publication: 
2020
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 13977
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
Deterrence institutions are widely used in modern societies to discourage rule violations but whether they have an impact beyond their immediate scope of application is usually ignored. Using a quasi-experiment, we found evidence of spillover effects across contexts. We identified fraudsters and non-fraudsters on public transport who were or not exposed to ticket inspections by the transport company. We then measured the intrinsic honesty of the same persons in a new, unrelated context where they could misappropriate money. Instead of having an expected educative effect across contexts, the exposure to deterrence practices increased unethical behavior of fraudsters but also, strikingly, of non-fraudsters, especially when inspection teams were larger. Learning about the prevailing norm is the most likely channel of this spillover effect.
Subjects: 
deterrence institutions
intrinsic honesty
spillovers
quasi-experiment
JEL: 
C93
K42
D02
D91
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size
1.21 MB





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.