Context-dependent cheating: experimental evidence from 16 countries

Article


Pascual-Ezama, D., Fosgaard, T., Cardenas, J., Kujal, P., Veszteg, R., Gil-Gómez de Liaño, B., Gunia, B., Weichselbaumer, D., Hilken, K., Armenak, A., Delnoij, J., Proestakis, A., Tira, M., Patromo, Y., Jaber-López, T. and Branas-Garza, P. 2015. Context-dependent cheating: experimental evidence from 16 countries. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization. 116, pp. 379-386. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2015.04.020
TypeArticle
TitleContext-dependent cheating: experimental evidence from 16 countries
AuthorsPascual-Ezama, D., Fosgaard, T., Cardenas, J., Kujal, P., Veszteg, R., Gil-Gómez de Liaño, B., Gunia, B., Weichselbaumer, D., Hilken, K., Armenak, A., Delnoij, J., Proestakis, A., Tira, M., Patromo, Y., Jaber-López, T. and Branas-Garza, P.
Abstract

Policy makers use several international indices that characterize countries according to the quality of their
institutions. However, no effort has been made to study how the honesty of citizens varies across countries. This paper explores the honesty among citizens across sixteen countries with 1440 participants. We employ a very simple task where participants face a trade-off between the joy of eating a fine chocolate and the disutility of having a threatened self-concept because of lying. Despite the incentives to cheat, we find that individuals are mostly honest. Further, international indices that are indicative of institutional honesty are completely uncorrelated with citizens' honesty for our sample countries.

KeywordsHonesty corruption economic experiments cultural differences
PublisherElsevier
JournalJournal of Economic Behavior and Organization
ISSN0167-2681
Publication dates
Online21 May 2015
Print01 Aug 2015
Publication process dates
Deposited08 Jun 2015
Accepted25 Apr 2015
Output statusPublished
Publisher's version
License
Copyright Statement

©2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CCBY-NC-ND license(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2015.04.020
LanguageEnglish
Permalink -

https://repository.mdx.ac.uk/item/858wz

Download files

  • 41
    total views
  • 8
    total downloads
  • 2
    views this month
  • 0
    downloads this month

Export as

Related outputs

Deciding for others: local public good contributions with intermediaries
Kujal, P., Angelovski, A. and Mavridis, C. 2024. Deciding for others: local public good contributions with intermediaries. Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics. 112. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socec.2024.102247
The effect of wage proposals on efficiency and income distribution
Ezquerra, L., Gómez-Miñambres, J., Jimenez, N. and Kujal, P. 2023. The effect of wage proposals on efficiency and income distribution. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization. 216, pp. 469-493. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2023.10.006
Trustors' disregard for trustees deciding quickly or slowly in three experiments with time constraints
Cabrales, A., Espín, A., Kujal, P. and Rassenti, S. 2022. Trustors' disregard for trustees deciding quickly or slowly in three experiments with time constraints. Scientific Reports. 12 (1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-15420-2
Self-selecting into being a dictator: distributional consequences
Ezquerra Guerra, L. and Kujal, P. 2020. Self-selecting into being a dictator: distributional consequences. Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics. 87. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socec.2020.101559
On booms that never bust: ambiguity in experimental asset markets with bubbles
Corgnet, B., Hernan-Gonzalez, R. and Kujal, P. 2020. On booms that never bust: ambiguity in experimental asset markets with bubbles. Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control. 110. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jedc.2019.103754
Cognitive reflection test: whom, how, when
Branas-Garza, P., Lenkei, B. and Kujal, P. 2019. Cognitive reflection test: whom, how, when. Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics. 82, pp. 1-18.
To trust or not to trust: cognitive reflection in trust game
Corgnet, B., Espín, A., Hernán-González, R., Kujal, P. and Rassenti, S. 2016. To trust or not to trust: cognitive reflection in trust game. Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics. 64, pp. 20-27. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socec.2015.09.008
Registered Replication Report: Rand, Greene & Nowak (2012)
Bouwmeester, S., Verkoeijen, P., Acze, B., Barbosa, F., Bègue, L., Branas-Garza, P., Chmura, T., Cornelissen, G., Døssing, F., Espín, A., Evans, A., Ferreira-Santos, F., Fiedler, S., Flegr, J., Ghaffari, M., Glöckner, A., Goeschl, T., Guo, L., Hauser, O., Hernan-Gonzalez, R., Herrero, A., Horne, Z., Houdek, P., Johannesson, M., Koppel, L., Kujal, P., Laine, T., Lohse, J., Martins, E., Mauro, C., Mischkowski, D., Mukherjee, S., Myrseth, K., Navarro-Martínez, D., Neal, T., Novakova, J., Pagà, R., Paiva, T., Palf, B., Piovesan, M., Rahal, R., Salomon, E., Srinivasan, N., Srivastava, A., Szaszi, B., Szollosi, A., Thor, K., Tinghög, G., Trueblood, J., Van Bavel, J., van 't Veer, A., Västfjäll, D., Warner, M., Wengström, E., Wills, J. and Wollbrant, C. 2017. Registered Replication Report: Rand, Greene & Nowak (2012). Perspectives on Psychological Science. 12 (3), pp. 527-542. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691617693624
Editorial: Prosocial and antisocial behavior in economic games
Branas-Garza, P., Espín, A., Herrmann, B., Kujal, P. and Nagel, R. 2016. Editorial: Prosocial and antisocial behavior in economic games. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience. 10. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnbeh.2016.00243
Multiple openings and competitiveness of forward markets: experimental evidence
Ferreira, J., Kujal, P. and Rassenti, S. 2016. Multiple openings and competitiveness of forward markets: experimental evidence. PLoS ONE. 11 (17), pp. 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0158098
Trust and trustworthiness under information asymmetry and ambiguity
Clots-Figueras, I., Hernán González, R. and Kujal, P. 2016. Trust and trustworthiness under information asymmetry and ambiguity. Economics Letters. 147, pp. 168-170. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econlet.2016.08.019
What is a fair wage? Reference points, entitlements and gift exchange
Bottino, E., García-Muñoz, T., Goddio, C. and Kujal, P. 2016. What is a fair wage? Reference points, entitlements and gift exchange. Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics. 63, pp. 125-135. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socec.2016.06.002
The relative efficacy of price announcements and express communication for collusion: experimental findings
Harrington, J., Hernán-González, R. and Kujal, P. 2016. The relative efficacy of price announcements and express communication for collusion: experimental findings. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization. 128, pp. 251-264. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2016.05.014
Information asymmetry and deception
Clots-Figueras, I., Hernán-González, R. and Kujal, P. 2015. Information asymmetry and deception. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience. 9 (109). https://doi.org/10.3389/fnbeh.2015.00109
The effect of earned versus house money on price bubble formation in experimental asset markets
Corgnet, B., Hernán-González, R., Kujal, P. and Porter, D. 2015. The effect of earned versus house money on price bubble formation in experimental asset markets. Review of Finance. 19 (4), pp. 1455-1488. https://doi.org/10.1093/rof/rfu031
The effect of reliability, content and timing of public announcements on asset trading behavior
Corgnet, B., Kujal, P. and Porter, D. 2010. The effect of reliability, content and timing of public announcements on asset trading behavior. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization. 76 (2), pp. 254-266. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2010.06.014
List pricing and discounting in a Bertrand-Edgeworth duopoly
García Díaz, A., Hernán-González, R. and Kujal, P. 2009. List pricing and discounting in a Bertrand-Edgeworth duopoly. International Journal of Industrial Organization. 27 (6), pp. 719-727. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijindorg.2009.03.002
International trade policy towards monopoly and oligopoly
Kujal, P. and Ruiz, J. 2009. International trade policy towards monopoly and oligopoly. Review of International Economics. 17 (3), pp. 461-475. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9396.2009.00812.x
Reaction to public information in markets: how much does ambiguity matter?
Corgnet, B., Kujal, P. and Porter, D. 2012. Reaction to public information in markets: how much does ambiguity matter? The Economic Journal. 123 (569), pp. 699-737. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0297.2012.02557.x