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Social norms or social preferences?

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  • Ken Binmore

Abstract

Some behavioral economists argue that the honoring of social norms can be adequately modeled as the optimization of social utility functions in which the welfare of others appears as an explicit argument. This paper suggests that the large experimental claims made for social utility functions are premature at best, and that social norms are better studied as equilibrium selection devices that evolved for use in games that are seldom studied in economics laboratories. Copyright Springer-Verlag 2010

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  • Ken Binmore, 2010. "Social norms or social preferences?," Mind & Society: Cognitive Studies in Economics and Social Sciences, Springer;Fondazione Rosselli, vol. 9(2), pages 139-157, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:minsoc:v:9:y:2010:i:2:p:139-157
    DOI: 10.1007/s11299-010-0073-2
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    8. Tammi, Timo, 2013. "Dictator game giving and norms of redistribution: Does giving in the dictator game parallel with the supporting of income redistribution in the field?," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 44-48.
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    11. Daniele De Luca, 2023. "Power relations in Game Theory," Papers 2307.14170, arXiv.org.
    12. Florian Diekert & Tillmann Eymess & Joseph Luomba & Israel Waichman, 2022. "The Creation of Social Norms under Weak Institutions," Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, University of Chicago Press, vol. 9(6), pages 1127-1160.
    13. Leonardo Becchetti & Maurizio Fiaschetti & Giancarlo Marini, 2012. "Card Games and Financial Crises," CEIS Research Paper 256, Tor Vergata University, CEIS, revised 09 Oct 2012.
    14. Daniele De Luca, 2024. "A mathematical theory of power," Papers 2401.16406, arXiv.org.
    15. Alexandre Truc & Dorian Jullien, 2023. "A controversy about modeling practices: the case of inequity aversion," Post-Print hal-04719263, HAL.
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    24. Heap, Shaun P. Hargreaves & Matakos, Konstantinos & Weber, Nina Sophie, 2020. "Non-selfish behaviour: Are social preferences or social norms revealed in distribution decisions?," SocArXiv g4c2m, Center for Open Science.

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