Lying for others: The impact of agency on misreporting

C-Tier
Journal: Economics Letters
Year: 2021
Volume: 198
Issue: C

Score contribution per author:

0.335 = (α=2.01 / 3 authors) × 0.5x C-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

We extend the experimental design by Fischbacher and Föllmi-Heusi (2013) to examine lying behavior on behalf of others, eliminating all possible incentives apart from social preferences. We compare the prevalence of misreporting in situations where the monetary gain either goes to the decision-maker or to an anonymous other participant. Overall we observe lower levels of lying for others compared to for oneself, however, a significant number of participants were willing to lie to increase another participant’s payoff, with no economic incentive to do so. We find no partial lying for others but rather two extremes: either complete honesty or maximal lying.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:eee:ecolet:v:198:y:2021:i:c:s0165176520304377
Journal Field
General
Author Count
3
Added to Database
2026-01-25