Hostname: page-component-6766d58669-l4t7p Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-05-19T09:48:01.996Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

On the scope of externalities in experimental markets

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2025

Björn Bartling ,
Vanessa Valero  and
Roberto Weber
Björn Bartling*
Affiliation:
Department of Economics, University of Zurich, Blümlisalpstrasse 10, 8006 Zurich, Switzerland
Vanessa Valero*
Affiliation:
Department of Economics, University of Zurich, Blümlisalpstrasse 10, 8006 Zurich, Switzerland
Roberto Weber*
Affiliation:
Department of Economics, University of Zurich, Blümlisalpstrasse 10, 8006 Zurich, Switzerland
*
bjoern.bartling@econ.uzh.ch
vanessa.valero@econ.uzh.ch
roberto.weber@econ.uzh.ch
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

We study how the scope of negative externalities from market activity affects the willingness of market actors to exhibit social responsibility. Using the laboratory experimental paradigm introduced by Bartling et al. (Q J Econ 130(1):219–266, 2015), we compare the voluntary internalization of negative social impacts by market actors in cases where the negative externality is diffused among many subjects or is concentrated on a single subject. We (1) replicate earlier results demonstrating substantial degrees of market social responsibility and (2) find that the willingness of market actors to act pro-socially is only slightly affected by whether the impacts are concentrated or diffused.

Keywords

Negative externalitiesScope of externalitiesSocial responsibilityMarket experiments

JEL classification

D62: Externalities M14: Corporate Culture • Diversity • Social Responsibility C92: Laboratory, Group Behavior

Information

Type
Original Paper
Information
Experimental Economics , Volume 22 , Issue 3: Special Issue in Honor of Charles R. Plott , September 2019 , pp. 610 - 624
Copyright
Copyright © 2017 Economic Science Association

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

Footnotes

Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s10683-017-9549-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

References

Barrios-Guerra, CA (2004). Mercury contamination in Chile: A chronicle of a problem foretold. Reviews of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, 183, 1–19.Google ScholarPubMed
Bartling, B, Weber, R, & Yao, L (2015). Do markets erode social responsibility?. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 130(1), 219–266. 10.1093/qje/qju031CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bénabou, R, & Tirole, J (2010). Individual and corporate social responsibility. Economica, 77, 1–19. 10.1111/j.1468-0335.2009.00843.x10.1111/j.1468-0335.2009.00843.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Block, O, Baetge, I, & Nicklisch, A (2014). hroot: Hamburg registration and organization online tool. European Economic Review, 71, 117–120. 10.1016/j.euroecorev.2014.07.003Google Scholar
Danz, D., Engelmann, D., & Kübler, D. (2012). Do legal standards affect ethical concerns of consumers? An Experiment on Minimum Wages, University of Mannheim, Department of Economics, Working Paper 12–3.Google Scholar
Falk, A, & Szech, N (2013). Morals and markets. Science, 340, 707–711. 10.1126/science.1231566CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fischbacher, U (2007). z-Tree: Zurich toolbox for ready-made economic experiments. Experimental Economics, 10(2), 171–178. 10.1007/s10683-006-9159-410.1007/s10683-006-9159-4CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harada, M (1995). Minamata disease: Methylmercury poisoning in Japan caused by environmental pollution. Critical Reviews in Toxicology, 25(1), 1–24. 10.3109/1040844950908988510.3109/10408449509089885CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Irlenbusch, B., & Saxler, D. (2015). Social responsibility in market interaction, IZA Discussion Paper No. 9240.Google Scholar
Kirchler, M, Huber, J, Stefan, M, & Sutter, M (2015). Market design and moral behavior. Management Science, 62(9), 2615–2625. 10.1287/mnsc.2015.224610.1287/mnsc.2015.2246CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McFadden, D, & Zarembka, P (1974). Conditional logit analysis of qualitative choice behavior. Frontiers in econometrics, New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Pigors, M., & Rockenbach, B. (2016). Consumer social responsibility, forthcoming in Management Science..10.1287/mnsc.2015.2279CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Plott, CR (1983). Externalities and corrective policies in experimental markets. Economic Journal, 93, 106–127. 10.2307/223216810.2307/2232168CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schumacher, H., Kesternich, I., Kosfeld, M., & Winter, J. (2016). One, two, many—insensitivity to group size in games with concentrated benefits and dispersed costs, forthcoming in Review of Economic Studies..10.1093/restud/rdw043CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Slovic, P (2007). If I look at the mass I will never act: Psychic numbing and genocide. Judgment and Decision Making, 2(2), 79–95.10.1017/S1930297500000061CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Small, DA, & Loewenstein, G (2003). Helping a victim or helping the victim: Altruism and identifiability. Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, 26(1), 5–16. 10.1023/A:102229942221910.1023/A:1022299422219CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Small, DA, Loewenstein, G, & Slovic, P (2007). Sympathy and callousness: The impact of deliberative thought on donations to identifiable and statistical victims. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 102(2), 143–153. 10.1016/j.obhdp.2006.01.00510.1016/j.obhdp.2006.01.005CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sutter, M., Huber, J., Kirchler, M., & Stefan, M. (2016). Where to look for the morals in markets?, IZA Discussion Paper No. 10105.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Bartling et al. supplementary material

Bartling et. al. supplementary material
Download Bartling et al. supplementary material(File)
File 398.9 KB