TY - JOUR

T1 - How do the consequences on others affect dishonest behavior? Evidence from an online experiment in Mexico

AU - Triberti, Giuliana

AU - Soto-Mota, Pablo

AU - Vargas López, Adrian

AU - Serra-Barragán, Luis Alberto

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © Open access journal published by Centro de Investigaci´on y Docencia Econ´omicas. All rights reserved.

PY - 2025/2/15

Y1 - 2025/2/15

N2 - Dishonesty harms economic performance and growth. However, the literature on dishonesty has used almost exclusively samples from developed countries. In addition, previous studies present non-conclusive results on how concerns for others affect lying behaviour. In view of this gap in the evidence, the present study explores how the decision to be dishonest changes when it affects a charity. In an experiment involving 555 participants in Mexico, subjects could lie about the result of a dice roll without any possibility of detection. We contrast a situation without incentives to three conditions that differ in how dishonesty affected the charity. Deceitful behaviour increased when participants could benefit from it. Also, participants lied less when they received benefits at the expense of the charity, but they did not lie more when they could help it. Our results suggest that making salient how dishonesty harms others might help reduce its negative effects in society.

AB - Dishonesty harms economic performance and growth. However, the literature on dishonesty has used almost exclusively samples from developed countries. In addition, previous studies present non-conclusive results on how concerns for others affect lying behaviour. In view of this gap in the evidence, the present study explores how the decision to be dishonest changes when it affects a charity. In an experiment involving 555 participants in Mexico, subjects could lie about the result of a dice roll without any possibility of detection. We contrast a situation without incentives to three conditions that differ in how dishonesty affected the charity. Deceitful behaviour increased when participants could benefit from it. Also, participants lied less when they received benefits at the expense of the charity, but they did not lie more when they could help it. Our results suggest that making salient how dishonesty harms others might help reduce its negative effects in society.

KW - Lying

KW - Moral costs

KW - Mind game

KW - Charity

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85219578052&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.60758/laer.v34i.247

DO - 10.60758/laer.v34i.247

M3 - Article

VL - 34

SP - 1

EP - 29

JO - Latin American Economic Review

JF - Latin American Economic Review

SN - 2198-3526

M1 - 4

ER -