Reference Group Behaviour and Economic Incentives: A Remark

Schlicht, Ekkehart (1981): Reference Group Behaviour and Economic Incentives: A Remark. In: Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics (Zeitschrift für die gesamte Staatswissenschaft), Vol. 1, No. 137: pp. 125-127

Abstract

People tend, in many ways, to behave like the others they see around them. This note´shows that such reference group behavior tends to reinforce incentives (economic or other) that influence individuals directly only marginally. The workings or such incentives is augmented what might be called a "social multiplier."

• Item Type: Article
• Keywords: reference group, incentives, conformity, social multiplier, aggregation
• Collections: Economics; Economics > Article
• Subjects: 300 Social sciences > 300 Social sciences, sociology and anthropology; 300 Social sciences > 330 Economics
• JEL Classification: J3

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