Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/87170 
Year of Publication: 
2012
Series/Report no.: 
Tinbergen Institute Discussion Paper No. 12-135/VII
Publisher: 
Tinbergen Institute, Amsterdam and Rotterdam
Abstract: 
We examine differences in altruism and laziness between public sector employees and private sector employees. Our theoretical model predicts that the likelihood of public sector employment increases with a worker's altruism, and increases or decreases with a worker's laziness depending on his altruism. Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study, we find that public sector employees are significantly more altruistic and lazy than observationally equivalent private sector employees. A series of robustness checks show that these patterns are stronger among higher educated workers; that the sorting of altruistic people to the public sector takes place only within the caring industries; and that the difference in altruism is already present at the start of people's career, while the difference in laziness is only present for employees with sufficiently long work experience.
Subjects: 
public service motivation
altruism
laziness
sorting
public sector employment
personality characteristics
JEL: 
H1
J45
M5
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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