American Economic Review Vol. 100 No. 4 2010
Morally Motivated Self-Regulation
Abstract
Self-regulation is the private provision of public goods and private redistribution. This paper examines the scope of self-regulation motivated by altruistic moral preferences that are reciprocal and stronger the closer are citizens in a socioeconomic distance. The focus is on the role of organizations in increasing self-regulation by mitigating free-rider problems. Social label and certification organizations can expand the scope of self-regulation but not beyond that with unconditional altruism. Enforcement organizations expand the scope of self-regulation farther, and for-profit enforcement is more aggressive than non-profit enforcement. Enforcement through social pressure imposed by NGOs also expands the scope of self-regulation.
- DOI
- 10.1257/aer.100.4.1299
- Volume
- 100
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 1299-1329
- Language
- en
- Sources
- openalex bibtex:phds-export.bib crossref