How Institutions Shape Morality
通过随机对照试验，发现正式产权制度的引入使人们在道德困境中更倾向于功利主义判断，揭示了制度对道德观念的影响机制。
Abstract We present the results of a randomized control trial on the effect of the introduction of formalized property rights on individuals’ moral judgments and, in particular, on utilitarian morality. We show that institutions shape morality: being exposed to private property institutions makes individuals more utilitarian when confronted with moral dilemmas. Our results shed light on a possible institutional determinant of the variation of moral judgments across the globe and its geographical patterns, and have implications for the consequences of major institutional reforms—both intended, such as land-titling programs, and unintended, such as those following from recent historical events—on moral attitudes. We discuss two possible channels stemming from the inherent features of property rights: the loosening of social ties and the commodification of rights.