Measuring the Welfare Effects of Shame and Pride

Luigi Butera, Robert Metcalfe, William Morrison, Dmitry Taubinsky

Publikation: Working paperForskning

Abstract

Public recognition is a frequent tool for motivating desirable behavior, yet its welfare effects are rarely measured. We develop a portable money-metric approach for measuring the direct welfare effects of shame and pride, which we deploy in a series of experiments on exercise and charitable behavior. In all experiments, public recognition motivates desirable behavior but creates highly unequal emotional consequences. High-performing individuals enjoy significant utility gains from pride, while low-performing individuals incur significant utility losses from shame. We estimate structural models of social signaling, and we use the models to explore the social efficiency of public recognition policies.
OriginalsprogEngelsk
UdgivelsesstedCambridge, MA
UdgiverNational Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)
Antal sider96
DOI
StatusUdgivet - mar. 2019
NavnNational Bureau of Economic Research. Working Paper Series
Nummer25637
ISSN0898-2937

Bibliografisk note

Revised August 2020. Previous version published under the title: "The Deadweight Loss of Social Recognition".

Citationsformater