Adam Smith made a persuasive case that moral sentiments are the foundation of ethical behaviors in his 1759 The Theory of Moral Sentiments. This view is still controversial as philosophers debate the extent of human morality. One type of moral behavior, assisting a stranger, has been shown by...

Is there a biological basis for morality? This talk will survey recent studies from my lab that are characterizing the role of oxytocin in producing a variety of moral behaviors. Using a neuroeconomics paradigm to measure virtue in vice in the laboratory, oxytocin is implicated in the virtues of...

This essay introduces a neurologically-informed formal model of collective action that reveals the role for empathy and distress in motivating costly helping behaviors. This model is based on a brain circuit that our lab has recently characterized called HOME (Human Oxytocin Mediated Empathy)...

Why does trust vary so substantially across countries? How does trust affect growth? This paper presents a general equilibrium growth model in which heterogeneous agents transact and face a moral hazard problem. Agents in this world may trust those with whom they transact, but they also have the...