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Morality and Conflicts

Author

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  • Dorothee Schmidt

    (Department of Economics, Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, Germany)

Abstract

In recent debates, morality or social norms have been proposed as an instrument to reduce conflict behavior. As the argument goes, moral people will not engage in socially not-tolerated behavior or, less so than amoral people. Analyzing this question in the framework of contest theory, we find that if morality can discriminate between appropriation and defense, it is an effective instrument to lower socially unwanted behavior and support the enforcement of property rights. If it cannot discriminate between these different conflict efforts, strategic effects due to a one-sided increase in morality might actually lead to total increased conflict effort in the economy.

Suggested Citation

  • Dorothee Schmidt, 2005. "Morality and Conflicts," Discussion Paper Series of the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods 2005_12, Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods.
    • Handle: RePEc:mpg:wpaper:2005_12
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    File URL: http://www.coll.mpg.de/pdf_dat/2005_12online.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Contests; property right enforcement; morality; education;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • D74 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Conflict; Conflict Resolution; Alliances; Revolutions
    • I20 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - General
    • K42 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior - - - Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law
    • Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification

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