Question

"The moral economy: Why good incentives are no substitute for good citizens" by Samuel Bowles. Establish the system( mechanisms) in which the story is set. (2 paragraphs)

Answer 1

“Why Good Incentives Are No Substitute for Good Citizens,” Samue Bowles’s book urges for questioning on the utility of employing financial incentives and punishments instead of appealing to basic human goodness like norms of trust and honesty. With a combination of storytelling, logical argument, and substantial case and field research, Bowles makes a compelling issue that not only are financial rewards usually misguided—they can even make the situation worse. Thus instead to rely on models populated by Homo economics, policy makers must take into consideration of people as they really are, with possibly intrinsic desires to uphold civic-mindedness and social norms.

Equipped with the latest evidence from economics as well as other fields Bowles takes the book reader through a range of social scientific games and experiments such as public goods, prisoner’s dilemmas etc. He believed that incentives cannot alone provide the foundations of good governance because both incentives and morals affect human choices, thus must be considered together.