Decision-makers commonly avoid information on uncertain social effects of their privately beneficial choices. The dominant theory holds that such "strategic ignorance" is a means to circumvent inner moral conflict while acting self-servingly. In extension of the theory, we hypothesize that time...

In a laboratory experiment, using a game in which a “decider” determines her own payoff and the payoff of a “stakeholder” by choosing between two payoff allocations, we analyze the effect of time pressure on self-serving behavior under two transparency conditions. Under “transparent...

We test the hypothesis that protest participation decisions in an adult population of potential climate protesters are interdependent. Subjects (n = 1,510) from four German cities were recruited two weeks before protest date. We measured participation and beliefs about the other subjects'...

In a laboratory experiment we study how costly punishment behavior of second and third parties in a social dilemma situation is affected by monitoring costs. Subjects have to pay a fee over and above punishment costs if they wish to condition punishments on previous play, which is equivalent to...

In a parsimonious two-sector general equilibrium model, we challenge the widely-held tenet that within a cap-and-trade system renewable energy policies have no effect on carbon emissions. If the cap does not capture all sectors, we demonstrate that variations of a renewable energy subsidy change...

Is feedback on trustworthiness necessary for the functioning of economic relationships? In many real-world economic environments, such feedback can at best be acquired through costly monitoring, raising questions of how trust and efficiency can be maintained. In the lab, we conduct a modified...

Governments around the globe embrace "energy efficiency" to address climate change. For example, the European Union’s "2030 Climate and Energy Framework" explicitly links the pledge to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 40% until 2030 (from 1990 levels) to the goal of a 32.5% improvement of...

We test the hypothesis that protest participation decisions in an adult population of potential climate protesters are interdependent. Subjects (n = 1,510) from the four largest German cities were recruited two weeks before protest date. We measured participation (ex post) and beliefs about the...

Recent experimental research has examined whether contributions to public goods can be traced back to intuitive or deliberative decision-making, using response times in public good games in order to identify the specific decision process at work. In light of conflicting results, this paper...