Sustaining Honesty in Public Service: The Role of Selection
通过丹麦调查实验，发现更诚实的人更倾向于选择公共部门工作，而不诚实者因金钱动机转向高薪私营部门，提高公共部门工资反而会吸引不诚实者。
We study the role of self-selection into public service in sustaining honesty in the public sector. Focusing on the world’s least corrupt country, Denmark, we use a survey experiment to document strong self-selection of more honest individuals into public service. This result differs sharply from existing findings from more corrupt settings. Differences in pro-social versus pecuniary motivation appear central to the observed selection pattern. Dishonest individuals are more pecuniarily motivated and self-select out of public service into higher-paying private sector jobs. Accordingly, we find that increasing public sector wages would attract more dishonest candidates to public service in Denmark.