The paper examines when unilateral and bilateral pretence may be beneficial distinguishing between positive and negative externalities. Using a two-player single period game and defining altruism, selfishness and meanness as "sentimental continuity" it is shown how the optimal level of the pretended sen- timentality is determined. The novelty of the model is that the optimal degree of altruism (meanness) depends n the extent of the positive (negative) externalities.
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