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Selfish punishers

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  • Hoeft, Leonard
  • Mill, Wladislaw

Abstract

We show that a second-party punisher forces his peers to contribute to a public good while contributing significantly less himself. This effect increased over time and casts doubt on the prevalent prosocial interpretation of (designated) punishment behavior.

Suggested Citation

  • Hoeft, Leonard & Mill, Wladislaw, 2017. "Selfish punishers," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 157(C), pages 41-44.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:157:y:2017:i:c:p:41-44
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2017.05.022
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Kirchkamp, Oliver & Mill, Wladislaw, 2020. "Conditional cooperation and the effect of punishment," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 174(C), pages 150-172.
    2. Adam Ayaita & Kerstin Pull, 2022. "Positional preferences and narcissism: evidence from ‘money burning’ dictator games," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(3), pages 267-271, February.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Punishment; Public good; Experiment; Selfish;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H41 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Public Goods
    • C92 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Group Behavior
    • K42 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior - - - Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law

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