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Moral Universalism: Incentivised evidence

Lookup NU author(s): Dr Tom Lane

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).

Abstract

There has been a recent surge in interest among economists in moral universalism, the extent to which individuals treat in-groups and out-groups equally in altruism and trust. I provide novel incentivised evidence, adding to the literature which has relied on survey-based measurements of universalism. Using data from dictator and trust games involving 17 identity groups across five dimensions, I find broad consistency with existing studies: universalism varies widely across individuals and is moderately stable across contexts. Relative to previous research, however, I observe weaker stability in universalism across identity dimensions and some differences in its predictor variables.

Publication metadata

Author(s): Lane T

Publication type: Article

Publication status: Published

Journal: Economics Letters

Year: 2026

Volume: 261

Print publication date: 01/03/2026

Online publication date: 04/02/2026

Acceptance date: 02/02/2026

Date deposited: 07/02/2026

ISSN (print): 0165-1765

ISSN (electronic): 1873-7374

Publisher: Elsevier BV

URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econlet.2026.112856

DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2026.112856

Data Access Statement: The data is already publicly available here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167268124002324.

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