A Model of Social Duties
(2026) In Journal of Political Economy 134(5). p.1307-1346- Abstract
We develop and test a model of social duties. The model distinguishes unconditional duties to take or avoid certain actions from conditional duties that depend on the actions’ payoffs. It also distinguishes strict duties (must do) from liberal duties (ought to do). The disutility associated with duty violation depends on the duty’s strictness and is proportional to the externality the violation causes. The model rationalizes behavioral patterns that are incompatible with consequentialist preferences. Our tests comprise parameter estimation based on subjects’ behavior across different situations as well as measurement of duties through spectators’ appropriateness ratings.
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https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/d6a8b472-c09a-472a-a0a0-32b479e430fb
- author
- Ellingsen, Tore and Mohlin, Erik LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2026
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- in
- Journal of Political Economy
- volume
- 134
- issue
- 5
- pages
- 1307 - 1346
- publisher
- University of Chicago Press
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:105034870844
- ISSN
- 0022-3808
- DOI
- 10.1086/739834
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- d6a8b472-c09a-472a-a0a0-32b479e430fb
- date added to LUP
- 2026-05-13 13:06:50
- date last changed
- 2026-06-10 09:10:17
@article{d6a8b472-c09a-472a-a0a0-32b479e430fb,
abstract = {{<p>We develop and test a model of social duties. The model distinguishes unconditional duties to take or avoid certain actions from conditional duties that depend on the actions’ payoffs. It also distinguishes strict duties (must do) from liberal duties (ought to do). The disutility associated with duty violation depends on the duty’s strictness and is proportional to the externality the violation causes. The model rationalizes behavioral patterns that are incompatible with consequentialist preferences. Our tests comprise parameter estimation based on subjects’ behavior across different situations as well as measurement of duties through spectators’ appropriateness ratings.</p>}},
author = {{Ellingsen, Tore and Mohlin, Erik}},
issn = {{0022-3808}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{5}},
pages = {{1307--1346}},
publisher = {{University of Chicago Press}},
series = {{Journal of Political Economy}},
title = {{A Model of Social Duties}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/739834}},
doi = {{10.1086/739834}},
volume = {{134}},
year = {{2026}},
}