Do market societies undermine civic morality? An empirical investigation into market societies and civic morality across the globe
基于多国调查数据，研究发现市场活动与公民道德呈正相关，市场过程公平性可能是关键机制，未发现市场削弱道德的证据。
Although the market is often praised as a wealth-creating coordination system, it is also repeatedly criticized for undermining morality. We empirically examine whether exposure to markets is associated with lower levels of civic morality, i.e. the responsibility and respect of the individual towards society's rules and the public good. Because most prior research lacks generalizability, we scrutinize the relationship between markets and individuals’ civic morality in a large set of highly culturally and institutionally diverse countries and regions. Multilevel analyses of cross-country individual-level survey data indicate a robust positive relationship between market exposure and civic morality. We find that subnational regions and countries experiencing an increase in market activity also experience an increase in individuals’ civic morality. Our results suggest that the mechanism behind this relation works through the fairness of the market process. We conclude that there is no empirical evidence suggesting that markets undermine civic morality.