Measuring the Welfare Effects of Shame and Pride

Luigi Butera, Robert Metcalfe (), William Morrison and Dmitry Taubinsky

No 25637, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: Public recognition is frequently used to motivate desirable behavior, yet its welfare effects—such as costs of shame or gains from pride—are rarely measured. We develop a portable empirical methodology for measuring and monetizing social image utility, and we deploy it in experiments on exercise and charitable behavior. In all experiments, public recognition motivates desirable behavior but creates highly unequal image payoffs. High-performing individuals enjoy significant utility gains, while low-performing individuals incur significant utility losses. We estimate structural models of social signaling, and we use the models to explore the social efficiency of public recognition policies.

JEL-codes: D8 D9 H0 I0 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-evo, nep-exp and nep-upt
Note: AG EH PE POL
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

Published as Luigi Butera & Robert Metcalfe & William Morrison & Dmitry Taubinsky, 2022. "Measuring the Welfare Effects of Shame and Pride," American Economic Review, vol 112(1), pages 122-168.

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.nber.org/papers/w25637.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Measuring the Welfare Effects of Shame and Pride (2022)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nbr:nberwo:25637

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
http://www.nber.org/papers/w25637

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc National Bureau of Economic Research, 1050 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A.. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ().