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The coordinating power of social norms

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2025

Francesco Fallucchi  and
Daniele Nosenzo Open the ORCID record for Daniele Nosenzo [Opens in a new window]
Francesco Fallucchi
Affiliation:
Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER), Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg
Daniele Nosenzo*
Affiliation:
Department of Economics and Business Economics, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
*
[email protected]
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Abstract

A popular empirical technique to measure norms uses coordination games to elicit what subjects in an experiment consider appropriate behavior in a given situation (Krupka and Weber in J Eur Econ Assoc 11(3):495–524, 2013). The Krupka–Weber method works under the assumption that subjects use their normative expectations to solve the coordination game. However, subjects might use alternative focal points to coordinate, in which case the method may deliver distorted measurements of the social norm. We test the vulnerability of the Krupka–Weber method to the presence of alternative salient focal points in two series of experiments with more than 3000 subjects. We find that the method is robust, especially when there are clear normative expectations about what constitutes appropriate behavior.

Keywords

Social normsKrupka–Weber methodCoordinationFocal pointSaliencyDictator gameC72C91
Type
Original Paper
Information
Experimental Economics , Volume 25 , Issue 1 , February 2022 , pp. 1 - 25
Copyright
Copyright © 2021 Economic Science Association

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Footnotes

Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at https://doi.org/10.1007/s10683-021-09717-8.

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