Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/168454 
Authors: 
Year of Publication: 
2017
Series/Report no.: 
DIW Discussion Papers No. 1676
Publisher: 
Deutsches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung (DIW), Berlin
Abstract: 
This paper studies the causal effect of status differences on moral disengagement and violence. To measure violent behavior, in the experiment, a subject can inflict a painful electric shock on another subject in return for money. We exogenously vary relative status in the realm of sexual attractiveness. In three between-subject conditions, the assigned other subject is either of higher, lower or equal status. The incidence of electric shocks is substantially higher among subjects matched with higher- and lower-status others, relative to subjects matched with equal-status others. This causal evidence on the role of status inequality on violence suggests an important societal cost of economic and social inequalities.
Subjects: 
Morality
Violence
Status
Inequality
Laboratory Experiments
JEL: 
A13
C91
D03
Z13
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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