The Moral Economy

Why Good Incentives Are No Substitute for Good Citizens

Nonfiction, Health & Well Being, Psychology, Occupational & Industrial Psychology, Business & Finance, Marketing & Sales, Consumer Behaviour, Applied Psychology
Cover of the book The Moral Economy by Samuel Bowles, Yale University Press
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Author: Samuel Bowles ISBN: 9780300221084
Publisher: Yale University Press Publication: May 28, 2016
Imprint: Yale University Press Language: English
Author: Samuel Bowles
ISBN: 9780300221084
Publisher: Yale University Press
Publication: May 28, 2016
Imprint: Yale University Press
Language: English
Should the idea of economic man—the amoral and self-interested Homo economicus—determine how we expect people to respond to monetary rewards, punishments, and other incentives? Samuel Bowles answers with a resounding “no.” Policies that follow from this paradigm, he shows, may “crowd out” ethical and generous motives and thus backfire.
 
But incentives per se are not really the culprit. Bowles shows that crowding out occurs when the message conveyed by fines and rewards is that self-interest is expected, that the employer thinks the workforce is lazy, or that the citizen cannot otherwise be trusted to contribute to the public good. Using historical and recent case studies as well as behavioral experiments, Bowles shows how well-designed incentives can crowd in the civic motives on which good governance depends.
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Should the idea of economic man—the amoral and self-interested Homo economicus—determine how we expect people to respond to monetary rewards, punishments, and other incentives? Samuel Bowles answers with a resounding “no.” Policies that follow from this paradigm, he shows, may “crowd out” ethical and generous motives and thus backfire.
 
But incentives per se are not really the culprit. Bowles shows that crowding out occurs when the message conveyed by fines and rewards is that self-interest is expected, that the employer thinks the workforce is lazy, or that the citizen cannot otherwise be trusted to contribute to the public good. Using historical and recent case studies as well as behavioral experiments, Bowles shows how well-designed incentives can crowd in the civic motives on which good governance depends.

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