PROSOCIAL Virtual Seminar October 2026
To register for the PROSOCIAL Virtual Seminar on October 13th, 2026, at 2:30 PM (CEST) please fill out the form below. You will receive an email that contains the link for joining the seminar.
Title of the presentation: "The Business of Mistakes: Moral Acceptability of Consumer Exploitation"
Speaker: Bertil Tungodden (NHH Norwegian School of Economics)
Abstract: The rise of behavioral economics has revealed that consumers often make systematic mistakes that businesses can exploit. This raises a fundamental moral question: Is it morally acceptable for companies to sell products that consumers would be better off not buying? In a global study across 40 countries, we show that a large majority of respondents view such consumer exploitation as morally wrong, yet at the same time believe that businesses routinely engage in these practices. Moral preferences and beliefs about firm behavior strongly predict attitudes toward consumer regulation, both across individuals and across countries. We identify three distinct moral types — Libertarians, Substantialists, and Proceduralists — and show that their prevalence at the country level is closely linked to support for consumer regulation. In a second large-scale study in the United States, we examine how moral acceptability depends on the nature of firm behavior — whether the firm manipulates information, exploits a behavioral bias, or provides all relevant information — and on beliefs about whether consumers can avoid mistakes through effort. Finally, we relate moral preferences to real-world political and market behavior. Taken together, the results provide novel global evidence on how people evaluate firm behavior that takes advantage of consumer mistakes and how these moral views shape support for consumer protection policies.
Privacy Policy: Your registration data will be used exclusively for registration and organization of the seminar. It will only be passed on to third parties if this is necessary for the event to take place or if required by law. For more information about how we handle your data, please refer to our privacy policy: Datenschutzerklaerung_PROSOCIAL_Virtual_Seminar.pdf
RWI – Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung e.V.
Hohenzollernstraße 1-3
45128 Essen
Impressum - RWI Essen
