Measuring the Welfare Effects of Shame and Pride

Luigi Butera; Robert Metcalfe; William Morrison; Dmitry Taubinsky

doi:10.3386/w25637

Measuring the Welfare Effects of Shame and Pride

Luigi Butera, Robert Metcalfe, William Morrison, Dmitry Taubinsky

Department of Economics

Research output: Working paper › Research

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.

Original language	English
Place of Publication	Cambridge, MA
Publisher	National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)
Number of pages	96
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3386/w25637
Publication status	Published - Mar 2019

Series	National Bureau of Economic Research. Working Paper Series
Number	25637
ISSN	0898-2937

Bibliographical note

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

Access to Document

10.3386/w25637Licence: Unspecified

https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w25637/w25637.pdfLicence: Unspecified

Handle.net

Persistent link

Cite this

@techreport{96613bce62874bc59142af8bcb0c64f2,

title = "Measuring the Welfare Effects of Shame and Pride",

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.",

author = "Luigi Butera and Robert Metcalfe and William Morrison and Dmitry Taubinsky",

note = "Revised August 2020. Previous version published under the title: {"}The Deadweight Loss of Social Recognition{"}.",

year = "2019",

month = mar,

doi = "10.3386/w25637",

language = "English",

series = "National Bureau of Economic Research. Working Paper Series",

publisher = "National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)",

number = "25637",

address = "United States",

type = "WorkingPaper",

institution = "National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)",

}

TY - UNPB

T1 - Measuring the Welfare Effects of Shame and Pride

AU - Butera, Luigi

AU - Metcalfe, Robert

AU - Morrison, William

AU - Taubinsky, Dmitry

N1 - Revised August 2020. Previous version published under the title: "The Deadweight Loss of Social Recognition".

PY - 2019/3

Y1 - 2019/3

N2 - 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.

AB - 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.

U2 - 10.3386/w25637

DO - 10.3386/w25637

M3 - Working paper

T3 - National Bureau of Economic Research. Working Paper Series

BT - Measuring the Welfare Effects of Shame and Pride

PB - National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

CY - Cambridge, MA

ER -