Economic Development and the Regulation of Morally Contentious Activities
American Economic Review
vol. 107,
no. 5, May 2017
(pp. 76-80)
Abstract
The regulation of many activities depends on whether societies consider them morally controversial or "repugnant." Not only have regulation and related ethical concerns changed over time, but there is also heterogeneity across countries at a given time. We provide evidence of this heterogeneity for three morally contentious activities, abortion, prostitution, and gestational surrogacy, and explore the relationship between a country's economic conditions and how these activities are regulated. We propose a conceptual framework to identify mechanisms that can explain our findings (including the role of non-economic factors), and indicate directions for future research.Citation
Elías, Julio J., Nicola Lacetera, Mario Macis, and Paola Salardi. 2017. "Economic Development and the Regulation of Morally Contentious Activities." American Economic Review, 107 (5): 76-80. DOI: 10.1257/aer.p20171098Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- D02 Institutions: Design, Formation, Operations, and Impact
- I10 Health: General
- J13 Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
- K42 Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law
- O17 Formal and Informal Sectors; Shadow Economy; Institutional Arrangements
- Z13 Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification