Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/87708 
Year of Publication: 
2013
Series/Report no.: 
KIT Working Paper Series in Economics No. 47
Publisher: 
Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT), Institut für Volkswirtschaftslehre (ECON), Karlsruhe
Abstract: 
We study how institutional design in influences moral transgression. People are heterogeneous in their feelings of guilt and can share guilt with others. Institutions determine the number of supporters necessary for immoral outcomes to occur. With more supporters required, every supporter can share guilt more easily. This facilitates becoming a supporter. Conversely, an institution requiring more supporters must rely on people who have higher individual moral standards. We analyze individual thresholds for agreeing to a transgression, depending on the available options for sharing guilt by institutional design. On the aggregate level, we study how institutions affect the likelihood of immoral outcomes.
Subjects: 
Moral Decision Making
Shared Guilt
Group Absolution
Diffused Responsibility
Institutional Design
Committee Decisions
Moral Transgression
JEL: 
D01
D03
D23
D63
D82
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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