Psychology has inspired economics to recognize intentions in addition to outcomes as being relevant for utility and behavior. Reciprocal behavior, in particular, has been related to the kindness of chosen actions and how kindness can be derived from the benefits obtained in unchosen...

The ratio of money demand to GDP may increase with portfolio demand, monetization, and a deeper division of labor. Using a cross-section approach to money demand for 126 countries this study shows that the share of agriculture, life expectancy at birth, openness, and trust in the banking system...

Experience from events of sovereign debt restructuring over the last decade exemplifies that the prevailing process is mainly shaped by exchange-offer launched by the debtor. This suggests that negotiations for changing the repayment terms of the debt take place in an Ultimatum Game which...

Corrupt arrangements are characterized by a high risk of opportunism. Moreover, denunciation and extortion add another layer of uncertainty for participants in corrupt transactions. This paper demonstrates how legislators can use an asymmetric design of criminal sanctions to amplify these...

We let students play a corruption game, embedded into a variant of the ultimatum game. Those allotted the role of public servants chose between whistleblowing, opportunism and reciprocity by delivery (of a contract) and those acting as businesspeople chose how to frame the game and whether to...

Governments and private firms try to contain corruption among their staff mostly in a top-down, rules-based approach. They limit discretion, increase monitoring or impose harsher penalties. Principles-based, bottom-up approaches to anticorruption, instead, emphasize the importance of value...

This paper processes responses from households in 66 countries to address differences in the extent to which bribes and gifts are considered acceptable. Levels of acceptance differ substantially from one country to another, but they do not conform to popular expectations: Respondents in rich,...

This study embeds transaction cost analysis into a Law and Economics model to produce general recommendations on how to deter bribery. Governments may deter bribery either by high penalties and risks of detection, potentially supported by leniency given to those who report their infraction...

Corruption among central banks induces distorted policies by, first, increasing the inflation bias and, second, potentially inducing a pro-cyclical adjustment of employment. In response to a negative supply shock a corrupt central banker is tempted to decrease money supply. In this case, he...