Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/73490 
Year of Publication: 
2009
Series/Report no.: 
Working Papers in Economics and Statistics No. 2009-24
Publisher: 
University of Innsbruck, Department of Public Finance, Innsbruck
Abstract: 
A publisher uses an honor system for selling a newspaper in the street. The customers are supposed to pay, but they can also pay less than the price or not pay at all. We conduct an experiment to study honesty in this market. The results show that appealing to honesty increases payments, whereas reminding the customers of the legal norm has no effect. Furthermore, appealing to honesty does not affect the behavior of the dishonest. These findings suggest that some people have internalized an honesty norm, whereas others have not, and that the willingness to pay to obey the norm differs among individuals. In a follow-up survey study we find that honesty is associated with family characteristics, self-esteem, social connectedness, trust in the legal system, and compliance with tax regulations.
Subjects: 
honesty
internalized social norm
natural field experiment
survey
JEL: 
C93
K42
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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