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Free keywords:
power abuse, norms, public goods, punishment
JEL:
C91 - Laboratory, Individual Behavior
JEL:
C92 - Laboratory, Group Behavior
JEL:
K42 - Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law
JEL:
H41 - Public Goods
JEL:
D73 - Bureaucracy; Administrative Processes in Public Organizations; Corruption
Abstract:
We study how the powerful perceive power abuse, and how negative experience related to it influences the appropriateness judgments of the powerless. We create an environment conducive to unfair exploitation in a repeated Public Goods game where one player (punisher) is given a further ability to costlessly subtract money from others (victims). Punishers who abuse their power rationalize their behavior by believing that free-riding, while forcing others to contribute, is not inappropriate. More importantly, victims of such abuse also start to believe that punishers’ free-riding and punishment are justifiable. Our findings demonstrate the capacity of humans to exculpate abusive behavior.
