If others abide by the rule, I follow suit

Research report (imported) 2021 - Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods

Authors
Engel, Christoph
Departments
Max-Planck-Institut zur Erforschung von Gemeinschaftsgütern, Bonn
Summary
To a surprising degree, individuals are willing to follow rules just because they are in force. This even holds for patently arbitrary rules. But there is a catch. The more of her peers violate the rule, the more the average individual is inclined to do the same. This suggests that rule following is a precious resource for governing society, but that this resource requires vigilance.

For the full text, see the German version.

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