Malleability of Preferences for Honesty

2024/05/21 by Johannes Abeler, Armin Falk, Fabian Kosse · 1 voice
Social Sciences · Decision Sciences · Neuroscience · #Experimental Behavioral Economics Studies #Decision-Making and Behavioral Economics #Psychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment

paper · doi:10.1093/ej/ueae044

openalex publication_date 2024/05/21 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/26

Abstract

Abstract Reporting private information is a key part of economic decision-making. A recent literature has found that many people have a preference for honest reporting, contrary to usual economic assumptions. In this paper, we investigate whether preferences for honesty are malleable and what determines them. We experimentally measure preferences for honesty in a sample of children. As our main result, we provide causal evidence on the effect of the social environment by randomly enrolling children in a year-long mentoring programme. We find that, about four years after the end of the programme, mentored children are significantly more honest.

Citations

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Discussions

• Johannes Abeler, Armin Falk, and I are thrilled that The Economic Journal accepted our paper titled ‘Malleability of Preferences for Honesty.’ It explores how the social environment influences lying. [bsky, 3 points, 0 comments]

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