Universität zu Köln

Rockenbach, Bettina ORCID: 0000-0003-2624-1964, Tonke, Sebastian and Weiss, Arne R. (2021). Self-serving behavior of the rich causes contagion effects among the poor. J. Econ. Behav. Organ., 183. S. 289 - 301. AMSTERDAM: ELSEVIER. ISSN 1879-1751

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Abstract

In a lab-in-the-field experiment, we study how the pro-social behavior of inhabitants of an impoverished neighborhood in Namibia is influenced after being informed about the pro-social or egoistic behavior of either a rich or a poor comparison group. We find that the poor behave significantly less prosocial when they learn about the egoistic behavior of the rich. Yet, neither the rich's pro-social behavior nor information on how other poor individuals behaved affects the poor's behavior. This contagion effect is not simply driven by imitating the behavior of the comparison group, or by social identity concerns or peer pressure. Instead, our data suggest that the poor's drop in pro-social behavior is caused by the violation of a social justice norm: The poor expect the rich to be pro-social and they are surprised if they act differently. Learning about the rich's egoism even makes participants' beliefs about what should be done (injunctive norms) significantly more egoistic. Hence, the self-serving behavior of the rich causes a double damage: Society not only suffers from their low pro-sociality but also from a spread of egoism among other members of society. (C) 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID ORCID Put Code Rockenbach, Bettina UNSPECIFIED orcid.org/0000-0003-2624-1964 UNSPECIFIED Tonke, Sebastian UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED Weiss, Arne R. UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED
URN:	urn:nbn:de:hbz:38-583542
DOI:	10.1016/j.jebo.2020.12.032
Journal or Publication Title:	J. Econ. Behav. Organ.
Volume:	183
Page Range:	S. 289 - 301
Date:	2021
Publisher:	ELSEVIER
Place of Publication:	AMSTERDAM
ISSN:	1879-1751
Language:	English
Faculty:	Faculty of Management, Economy and Social Sciences
Divisions:	Center of Excellence C-SEB Faculty of Management, Economics and Social Sciences > Economics > Microeconomics, Institutions and markets > Professorship for Experimental and Behavioral Economics Faculty of Management, Economics and Social Sciences > Economics > Microeconomics, Institutions and markets > Reinhard Selten Institute
Subjects:	Economics
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Keywords Language Economics Multiple languages
Refereed:	Yes
URI:	http://kups.ub.uni-koeln.de/id/eprint/58354