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Field
Trial Title
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Before
Different although Equal: An Experimental Investigation of Inter- and Intragenerational Differences in Corrupt Behavior facing Germany's East-West Stigma
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After
Markets, Institutions, and Morals: Inter- and Intragenerational Differences in Corrupt Behavior
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Trial Status
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Before
on_going
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After
completed
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Abstract
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Before
30 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Allensbach Institute consulted adolescents between 15 and 24 years in Germany to understand their educational situation, their evaluation of future perspectives, and their attitude towards current social and economic challenges. This survey reports crucial differences between young people in East and West Germany. This result is remarkable considering that this generation grew up in a unified Germany. Nevertheless, the youth seems to be strongly shaped by economic, cultural and social differences that were once established in the divided Germany. These differences may stem from acquired preferences concerning solidarity, state intervention and the distribution of income.
Our goal is to understand if differences revealed in cooperation and solidarity, as well as pro-state attitudes and governmental control are still prevalent among young Germans, who are not directly influenced by two different regimes. Additionally, we want to compare these results with those of older generations, who actually lived under different regimes in one state. We aim to contribute to the literature by playing the bribery game in an experimental setting with groups of different age in East and West Germany.
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After
We investigate the suspected detrimental effect of markets on morals by analyzing corrupt behavior of individuals who experienced different institutional environments during their socialization. Additionally, we explore if the adaptation of institutions results in a convergence effect for moral behavior among different generations. Considering the German reunification as a natural experiment for fundamental institutional change for the Eastern part, we conducted an online study (N=168) playing an experimental sequential bribery game with East and West Germans, born distinctly before and after the collapse of the socialist system in East Germany. We find a higher propensity toward corrupt behavior among young Germans who grew up in a market-oriented economy. Disentangling first-round and multiple-round effects, young East Germans did even reveal a higher inclination to bribe compared to their West German counterparts. Contrary, we find the opposite behavior among the older generation. Therefore, we propose a conversion to immoral behavior for the sake of their own advantages among young East Germans, growing up under the tense relationship of market opportunities and conveyed cultural traits of a socialist imprint. We infer a negative effect of market-oriented institutions on moral values, leading to an overcompensating behavior among young East Germans.
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JEL Code(s)
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Before
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After
C91, D63, J14, P51
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Last Published
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Before
April 17, 2021 03:29 AM
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After
January 04, 2022 02:43 AM
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Additional Keyword(s)
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Before
Corruption, Inter- and Intragenerational differences, East and West Germany
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After
Moral behavior, Corruption, Inter- and Intragenerational study, Institutional tranformation, Reunification
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Field
Keyword(s)
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Before
Behavior, Lab, Post Conflict
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After
Behavior, Lab, Post Conflict
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Field
Building on Existing Work
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Before
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After
No
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