Morality and conflict

Arbeitspapier

In recent debates, morality or social norms have been proposed as an instrument to reduce conflict behavior. As the argument goes, moral people will not engage in socially not-tolerated behavior or, less so than amoral people. Analyzing this question in the framework of contest theory, we find that if morality can discriminate between appropriation and defense, it is an effective instrument to lower socially unwanted behavior and support the enforcement of property rights. If it cannot discriminate between these different conflict efforts, strategic effects due to a one-sided increase in morality might actually lead to total increased conflict effort in the economy.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: Preprints of the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods ; No. 2005,12

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior ; Conflict; Conflict Resolution; Alliances; Revolutions ; Education and Research Institutions: General ; Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law ; Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification
• Subject: Contests ; property right enforcement ; morality ; education

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Schmidt, Dorothee
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods
• (where): Bonn
• (when): 2005

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/26876
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:42 AM CET