Tax evaders prefer institutional punishment
Thursday, July 5, 2012 - 06:00
in Psychology & Sociology
(Phys.org) -- Selfish behaviour is a threat to successful coexistence and mutual cooperation. In many cases this human cooperation is based on punishing those who do not cooperate. There can be two different forms of punishment here: direct punishment by peers and institutionalised punishment by institutions like the police. Arne Traulsen, Torsten Röhl and Manfred Milinski from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology in Plön conducted a behavioural experiment to study what form of punishment people prefer under which conditions. The scientists have demonstrated that people only prefer the costly institutions of punishment if those that cooperate, but do not wish to punish others, are themselves punished.