Preferences for Truthfulness: Heterogeneity among and within Individuals
- Gibson, Rajna Swiss Finance Institute–University of Geneva, 40 Bd Pont d'Arve, CH-1211 Genève 4, Switzerland, and Geneva Finance Research Institute (GFRI).
- Tanner, Carmen Department of Banking and Finance, University of Zurich, Plattenstrasse 32, CH-8032 Zurich, Switzerland.
- Wagner, Alexander F Department of Banking and Finance, University of Zurich, Plattenstrasse 14, CH-8032, Zurich, Switzerland, Swiss Finance Institute–University of Zurich, Harvard University, and CEPR.
Published in:
- American Economic Review. - American Economic Association. - 2013, vol. 103, no. 1, p. 532-548
English
We conduct an experiment assessing the extent to which people trade off the economic costs of truthfulness against the intrinsic costs of lying. The results allow us to reject a type-based model. People's preferences for truthfulness do not identify them as only either “economic types” (who care only about consequences) or “ethical types” (who care only about process). Instead, we find that preferences for truthfulness are heterogeneous among individuals. Moreover, when examining possible sources of intrinsic costs of lying and their interplay with economic costs of truthfulness, we find that preferences for truthfulness are also heterogeneous within individuals.
- Language
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- English
- Open access status
- green
- Identifiers
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- DOI 10.1257/aer.103.1.532
- ISSN 0002-8282
- Persistent URL
- https://sonar.ch/global/documents/284305
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