Introducing social contract to anarchy: an experimental study

In this study, we conducted a laboratory experiment simulating three different societies: anarchic society, neutral society, and utopian society. From anarchic society to utopian society, the level of social contract varies. Social contract defines the extent to which people agree to give up some of...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Zhou, Zhou
Other Authors: Yohanes Eko Riyanto
Format: Final Year Project (FYP)
Language:English
Published: 2018
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10356/73804
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author Zhou, Zhou
author2 Yohanes Eko Riyanto
author_facet Yohanes Eko Riyanto
Zhou, Zhou
author_sort Zhou, Zhou
collection NTU
description In this study, we conducted a laboratory experiment simulating three different societies: anarchic society, neutral society, and utopian society. From anarchic society to utopian society, the level of social contract varies. Social contract defines the extent to which people agree to give up some of their freedoms and obey to the authority of the ruler or magistrate in exchange for protection of their remaining rights. The objective of our study is to investigate whether subjects’ behavior under the three different institutional setups is consistent with equilibrium predictions given by the theory, and how individuals’ social preferences play a role in the process. We use the propensity to engage in dishonest behavior that causes negative externalities on a third party, as our measure for social preferences. We found that, overall, society with a more complete social contract has a higher degree of welfare. From the findings, it is evident that introducing social contract could improve the efficiency of a society and a complete social contract may bring about a utopia.
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spelling ntu-10356/738042019-12-10T13:31:50Z Introducing social contract to anarchy: an experimental study Zhou, Zhou Yohanes Eko Riyanto School of Humanities and Social Sciences DRNTU::Social sciences::Economic theory In this study, we conducted a laboratory experiment simulating three different societies: anarchic society, neutral society, and utopian society. From anarchic society to utopian society, the level of social contract varies. Social contract defines the extent to which people agree to give up some of their freedoms and obey to the authority of the ruler or magistrate in exchange for protection of their remaining rights. The objective of our study is to investigate whether subjects’ behavior under the three different institutional setups is consistent with equilibrium predictions given by the theory, and how individuals’ social preferences play a role in the process. We use the propensity to engage in dishonest behavior that causes negative externalities on a third party, as our measure for social preferences. We found that, overall, society with a more complete social contract has a higher degree of welfare. From the findings, it is evident that introducing social contract could improve the efficiency of a society and a complete social contract may bring about a utopia. Bachelor of Arts 2018-04-12T05:19:19Z 2018-04-12T05:19:19Z 2018 Final Year Project (FYP) http://hdl.handle.net/10356/73804 en Nanyang Technological University 60 p. application/pdf
spellingShingle DRNTU::Social sciences::Economic theory
Zhou, Zhou
Introducing social contract to anarchy: an experimental study
title Introducing social contract to anarchy: an experimental study
title_full Introducing social contract to anarchy: an experimental study
title_fullStr Introducing social contract to anarchy: an experimental study
title_full_unstemmed Introducing social contract to anarchy: an experimental study
title_short Introducing social contract to anarchy: an experimental study
title_sort introducing social contract to anarchy an experimental study
topic DRNTU::Social sciences::Economic theory
url http://hdl.handle.net/10356/73804
work_keys_str_mv AT zhouzhou introducingsocialcontracttoanarchyanexperimentalstudy