Bibliograph

The moral economy, why good incentives are no substitute for good citizens, Samuel Bowles

Type

Label

The moral economy, why good incentives are no substitute for good citizens, Samuel Bowles

Language

eng

Bibliography note

Includes bibliographical references (pages 245-266) and index

Illustrations

illustrations

Index

index present

Literary Form

non fiction

Main title

The moral economy

Nature of contents

bibliography

Oclc number

930798081

Responsibility statement

Samuel Bowles

Series statement

The castle lectures in ethics, politics, and economics

Sub title

why good incentives are no substitute for good citizens

Summary

Should the idea of economic man-the amoral and self-interested Homo economicus-determine how we expect people to respond to monetary rewards, punishments, and other incentives? Samuel Bowles answers with a resounding "no." Policies that follow from this paradigm, he shows, may "crowd out" ethical and generous motives and thus backfire. But incentives per se are not really the culprit. Bowles shows that crowding out occurs when the message conveyed by fines and rewards is that self-interest is expected, that the employer thinks the workforce is lazy, or that the citizen cannot otherwise be trusted to contribute to the public good. Using historical and recent case studies as well as behavioral experiments, Bowles shows how well-designed incentives can crowd in the civic motives on which good governance depends. --, Provided by publisher

resource.variantTitle

Why good incentives are no substitute for good citizens

Classification

Creator