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The Force of Norms? The Internal Point of View in Light of Experimental Economics
Author(s) -
Hoeft Leonard
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
ratio juris
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.344
H-Index - 10
eISSN - 1467-9337
pISSN - 0952-1917
DOI - 10.1111/raju.12250
Subject(s) - compliance (psychology) , aside , criticism , norm (philosophy) , incentive , epistemology , point (geometry) , law and economics , face (sociological concept) , positive economics , sociology , social psychology , law , psychology , political science , economics , philosophy , social science , microeconomics , mathematics , linguistics , geometry
Setting aside its conceptual issues, it remains an open question whether the internal point of view is a good descriptive tool for the behaviour of ordinary citizens or if a sanction‐based explanation of legal compliance is sufficient. This paper will discuss strains of experimental literature corroborating Hart’s criticism of sanction‐based accounts and suggesting that compliance with norms is indeed a shared practice sensitive to social influence. Legal institutions can interact with this shared practice in a way that cannot be reduced to pure incentives. Sanction‐based theories cannot account for norm compliance: They face a challenge in explaining the complex behavioural patterns observed in the minimalistic setting of laboratories.