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Jeffrey P. Carpenter, Peter Hans Matthews, Norm Enforcement: Anger, Indignation, Or Reciprocity?, Journal of the European Economic Association, Volume 10, Issue 3, 1 June 2012, Pages 555–572, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1542-4774.2011.01059.x
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Abstract
The enforcement of social norms often requires that unaffected third parties sanction offenders. Given the renewed interest of economists in norms, the literature on third-party punishment is surprisingly thin. In this paper, we report the results of an experiment designed to replicate the anger-based punishment of directly affected second parties and evaluate two distinct explanations for third-party punishment: indignation and group reciprocity. We find evidence in favor of both, with the caveat that the incidence of indignation-driven sanctions is perhaps smaller than earlier studies have hinted. Furthermore, our results suggest that second parties use sanctions to promote conformism while third parties intervene primarily to promote efficiency.