"Post Darwinian Societies Seminar" #9

Estimating Social Preferences and Kantian Morality in Strategic Interactions
Boris van Leeuwen (Tilburg University)

Theoretical work suggests that a form of Kantian morality has evolutionary foundations. To investigate the relative importance of Kantian morality and social preferences, we run a laboratory experiment on strategic interaction in social dilemmas. We structurally estimate social preferences and Kantian morality at the individual and aggregate level. We observe considerable heterogeneity in preferences. A finite mixture analysis shows that the subject pool is well described as consisting of two types. One combines inequity aversion and Kantian morality, while the other combines spite and Kantian morality. The value of adding Kantian morality to well-established preference classes is also evaluated.