Identity, morals, and taboos: beliefs as assets.
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Publication Details
Output type: Journal article
Author list: Bénabou, Tirole
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Publication year: 2011
Journal: The Quarterly Journal of Economics (0033-5533)
Volume number: 126
Issue number: 2
Start page: 805
End page: 55
Number of pages: -749
ISSN: 0033-5533
eISSN: 1531-4650
Languages: English-Great Britain (EN-GB)
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Open access status: closed
Abstract
We develop a theory of moral behavior, individual and collective, based on a general model of identity in which people care about “who they are” and infer their own values from past choices. The model sheds light on many empirical puzzles inconsistent with earlier approaches. Identity investments respond nonmonotonically to acts or threats, and taboos on mere thoughts arise to protect beliefs about the “priceless” value of certain social assets. High endowments trigger escalating commitment and a treadmill effect, while competing identities can cause dysfunctional capital destruction. Social interactions induce both social and antisocial norms of contribution, sustained by respectively shunning free riders or do-gooders.
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