Malleability of Preferences for Honesty

Arbeitspapier

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.

Angaben zum Objekt

• Sprache: Englisch

Verweise und Beziehungen

• Erschienen in: Series: IZA Discussion Papers ; No. 14304

Klassifikation und Themen

• Klassifikation: Wirtschaft ; Design of Experiments: General ; Micro-Based Behavioral Economics: General‡ ; Altruism; Philanthropy; Intergenerational Transfers ; Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design ; Tax Evasion and Avoidance ; Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
• Thema: honesty ; lying ; truth-telling ; formation of preferences ; experiments with children

Beteiligte, Orts- und Zeitangaben

• Ereignis: Geistige Schöpfung
• (wer): Abeler, Johannes ; Falk, Armin ; Kosse, Fabian
• Ereignis: Veröffentlichung
• (wer): Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
• (wo): Bonn
• (wann): 2021

Weitere Informationen

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/236335
• Letzte Aktualisierung: 10.03.2025, 11:43 MEZ