Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/300163 
Year of Publication: 
2024
Series/Report no.: 
CEBI Working Paper Series No. 12/24
Publisher: 
University of Copenhagen, Department of Economics, Center for Economic Behavior and Inequality (CEBI), Copenhagen
Abstract: 
We use surveys, laboratory experiments and administrative data to study how heterogeneity in the perceived immorality of work and in workers' aversion to acting immorally impact labor market outcomes. Immoral work is associated with higher wages, both in administrative data and in causal experimental evidence. Individuals more willing to engage in immoral conduct find employment in firms and industries perceived as immoral less aversive and have higher employment rates in immoral work in the laboratory. These phenomena appear to be driven by impure social motives, reflecting a desire not to be involved with immoral work, rather than by consequentialist concerns.
Subjects: 
Wage premium
immoral behavior
impure social preferences
sorting
experiments
JEL: 
C92
J31
D03
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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