Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-g8jcs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T04:23:12.328Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

ON MUTUAL BENEFIT AND SACRIFICE: A COMMENT ON BRUNI AND SUGDEN'S ‘FRATERNITY’

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 2009

Benedetto Gui
Benedetto Gui*
Affiliation:
University of Padova
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This note comments on Bruni and Sugden's interesting notion of fraternity among contract partners as joint commitment to cooperate for mutual benefit. I raise two points on their paper, both concerning the role of sacrifice. First I maintain that, differently from other social preferences, guilt aversion (or warm glow) does not imply self-sacrifice. Secondly, I argue that aiming for mutual benefit does not prevent individuals from facing trade-offs between their own and their partners’ surplus, so the notion of sacrifice cannot be entirely eschewed. To the contrary, reciprocal ‘sacrifices’ enhance cooperative intentions and help create feelings of friendliness.

Type
Discussion
Information
Economics & Philosophy , Volume 25 , Issue 2 , July 2009 , pp. 179 - 185
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Bordignon, M. 1994. Beni pubblici e scelte private: un'analisi senza l'homo economicus. Bologna: Il Mulino.Google Scholar
Bruni, L. and Sugden, R. 2008. Fraternity: why the market need not be a morally free zone. Economics and Philosophy 24: 35–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Charness, G. and Rabin, M. 2002. Understanding social preferences with simple tests. Quarterly Journal of Economics 117: 817–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leigh, A. 2006. Does equality lead to fraternity? Economics Letters 93: 121–5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCabe, K. A., Rigdon, M. L. and Smith, V. L. 2003. Positive reciprocity and intentions in trust games. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization 52: 267–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sen, A. K. 1987. On Ethics and Economics. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Smerilli, A. 2008. We thinking and double-crossing: frames, reasoning and equilibria. MPRA Paper 11545. University Library of Munich, Germany.Google Scholar
Sobel, J. 2005. Interdependent preferences and reciprocity. Journal of Economic Literature 93: 392–436.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sonnemans, J., van Dijk, F. and van Winden, F. 2006. On the dynamics of social ties structures in groups. Journal of Economic Psychology 27: 187–204.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sugden, R. 2009. Neither self-interest nor self-sacrifice: the fraternal morality of market relationships. University of East Anglia, mimeo, June.Google Scholar
Taylor, M. 1987. The Possibility of Cooperation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar