In line with Veblen's contributions on the "dark side" of commercial and political relationships, we show how promises can be used to manipulate the "common man." By imposing excessive access costs on potential promisees (e.g., citizens or consumers), a promiser (e.g., a politician or a firm)...

The paper investigates whether the premium consumers are willing to pay for an eco-labelled product is driven by selfish or altruistic motives. Using an incentive-compatible experiment with both a within- and a between-subject design, we study the effect on this premium of information stating...