Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/334594 
Year of Publication: 
2025
Series/Report no.: 
CESifo Working Paper No. 12238
Publisher: 
Munich Society for the Promotion of Economic Research - CESifo GmbH, Munich
Abstract: 
We establish the existence of intrinsic preferences for choice autonomy, defined as a preference for own choice in the absence of any instrumental value of choice, in large general population samples in nine countries using a novel preference elicitation tool. We find that such preferences are widespread, but also reveal stark differences across countries. Within countries, individuals who place a higher value on self-reliance and personal identity exhibit stronger intrinsic preferences for choice autonomy. In our small cross-country sample, we find suggestive evidence that differences are correlated with power distance, but not with measures of individualism, and that differences are predictive of managerial decentralization across countries.
Subjects: 
autonomy
individualism
preferences
culture
JEL: 
D01
D9
Document Type: 
Working Paper
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