With the growing body of literature on governance styles in which nonprofit organizations
are involved in creating and implementing public services, there is a need for robust …

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 …

Explicit economic incentives designed to increase contributions to public goods and to
promote other pro-social behavior sometimes are counterproductive or less effective than …

This survey reviews the recent research on trust, institutions, and economic development. It
discusses the various measures of trust and documents the substantial heterogeneity of trust …

Social preferences such as altruism, reciprocity, intrinsic motivation and a desire to uphold
ethical norms are essential to good government, often facilitating socially desirable …

Impersonal cooperation among strangers enables societies to create valuable public goods,
such as infrastructure, public services, and democracy. Several factors have been proposed …

This paper examines a simple element of financial incentive—design whether the incentive
takes the form of a fee for bad behavior or a reward for good behavior—to determine if the …

The use of moral appeals to affect the behavior of others is pervasive (from the pulpit to
ethics classes) but little is known about the effects of moral suasion on behavior. In a series …

Research examining the effect of weak punishment on conformity indicates that punishment
can backfire and lead to suboptimal social outcomes. We examine whether this effect is due …

Exploring the joint dynamics of laws and social norms helps understand when social norms
are sticky or adaptive. Using the example of the social and physical distancing measures …