The Ethics of Incentivizing the Uninformed: A Vignette Study1

摘要

Informed consent requires adequate information and comprehension. Our vignette study considers a situation in which this requirement is in conflict with libertarian principles. It is motivated by the results in Ambuehl, Ockenfels, and Stewart (2017) who show that individuals with higher marginal costs of information processing often respond disproportionately to a rise in the incentive, and decide to participate based on an inferior understanding of the consequences of their choice. Respondents to our survey have qualms about incentivizing people for whom information processing is more difficult. These concerns directly relate to the ability to understand the transaction, and are not simply a side-effect of concerns with incentivizing the poor. Respondents express a pronounced preference for policies that increase adherence to the principle of informed consent, even if they restrict voluntary choice.