The impact of market innovations on the evolution of norms: The sustainability case

Arbeitspapier

That institutions matter is widely accepted among economists and so are social norms as an important category of informal institutions. Social norms matter in many economic situations, but in particular for markets. The economic literature has studied the interrelation between markets and social norms in both directions - how social norms affect markets and how markets affect social norms. Starting from these two perspectives, we add to the literature, by suggesting a new link between product markets and the evolution of social norms: we analyze how the evolution of a social norm may be affected by a product innovation which adds to the variation of products with respect to their level of norm compliance. We derive necessary and sufficient conditions for a) a positive impact of the innovation on the level of norm adoption and b) for multiplicity of norm equilibria. Finally we discuss policy implications.

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• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: MAGKS Joint Discussion Paper Series in Economics ; No. 32-2014

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Relation of Economics to Social Values ; Institutions: Design, Formation, Operations, and Impact ; Consumer Economics: Theory ; Sustainable Development ; Environmental Economics: Technological Innovation
• Subject: Consumer Behavior ; Social Norms ; Evolutionary Economics ; Sustainability ; Innovation

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Müller, Stephan ; von Wangenheim, Georg
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Philipps-University Marburg, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics
• (where): Marburg
• (when): 2014

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/102365