Deception and Signaling
20th March 2009
Arnold Kling likes to delve into strange stuff — for an economist.
In other words, because economists do not want to punish rich people, altruists believe we must be punished.
But it’s worse than that. You can signal that you are an altruist not by engaging in altruistic acts, but simply by expressing a desire to punish others. For example, by taking away AIG bonuses, you do a great deal to signal altruism, even though the actual social gains from taking the bonuses away are miniscule (the gains may even be negative).
And I have no problem believing that.