Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/34810 
Year of Publication: 
2008
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 3460
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
When a society overthrows a ruler - call the ruler Caesar - what determines whether Caesar is killed or enslaved? This paper presents a model of killing versus enslaving Caesar, based on a new theory which unifies justice, status, and power. The model pertains to societies which value ordinal goods like bravery, yielding predictions for three of the five types of societies - justice-nonmaterialistic, status, and power-nonmaterialistic. Results cover members' gains, effects of own rank and group size, and relative gains from killing or enslaving Caesar. Further results suggest that Caesar will be killed only in a justice-nonmaterialistic society, and from the noblest of motives - to achieve equal gains for members.
Subjects: 
Civil strife
coup d'état
regicide
tyrannicide
assassination
imprisonment
exile
sociobehavioral theory
justice
comparison
status
power
identity
happiness
personal qualitative characteristics
hierarchy
equality
JEL: 
D6
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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