Committing to contribute: Understanding the effects of promises and pledges

Presenter

Uwe Dulleck

Abstract

Public statements of upholding norms of contribution to the commons can be found in many contexts, e.g. Hippocrates' Oath or a statement of ethical conduct in many industries incl. research. This presentation relies on economic experiments to identify that such statements or pledges are effective due to three effects: a selection effect, a commitment effect; and a coordination effect. Such statements are almost costless effective instruments to increase compliance with social norms.

Bio

Uwe Dulleck is a Professor in Applied Economics at QUT Business School, Economics and Finance and an Honorary Professor at the Australian National University. Prior to joining QUT, Uwe was a Professor of Economics at the University of Linz, Austria and an Assistant Professor at the University of Vienna. Uwe’s research and education expertise spans behavioural economics; economic experiments using biofeedback data; expert services and credence goods; and information economics. His work in these fields is widely published and includes the American Economic Review; Journal of Economic Literature; Economic Journal; Journal of Public Economics; International Journal of Industrial Organization; and the Scandinavian Journal of Economics. His research has been discussed in the Economic Focus of The Economist, Sydney Morning Herald and the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung (the Sunday edition of Germany’s leading quality newspaper), among others. Uwe is the recipient of several Australian Research Council Grants is a co-investigator on Austrian Research Grants. In 2015 Uwe was the Chairman of the Program Committee for Australia’s Conference of Economists, the leading and largest conference for research and applied economists in Australia. He is an active public commentator on behavioral economics and its applications to public policy, business decision making and regulation.