Tore Ellingsen (Stockholm School of Economics); Erik Mohlin (Lund University)
Abstract
We develop a structural model of social duties. Following Cicero, we divide social duties into obligations to respect others' rights (duties of justice) and responsibilities to promote others' well-being (duties of care). Rights are either defined outside of the situation, as in the case of property rights, or derive from moral ideals together with the distribution of power within the situation. The resulting utility function can have kinks due to both obligations and responsibilities. The model accounts for several documented unselfish behaviors that sympathy motives cannot easily explain. Pre-registered elicitations of social and personal appropriateness ratings support the model's predictions.