The Law of Good People: Challenging States’ Ability to Regulate Human Behavior

257 Pages·2018·3.12 MB·English

by  Yuval Feldman

the law of good people
Currently,thedominantenforcementparadigmisbasedontheideathatstatesdealwith
“badpeople”–orthosepursuingtheirownself-interests–withlawsthatexactapricefor
misbehavior through sanctions and punishment. At the same time, by contrast, beha-
vioralethicspositsthat“goodpeople”areguidedbycognitiveprocessesandbiasesthat
enablethemtobendthelawswithintheconfinesoftheirconscience.Inthisilluminat-
ingbook,YuvalFeldmananalyzestheseparadigmsandprovidesabroadtheoreticaland
empirical comparison of traditional and nontraditional enforcement mechanisms to
advance ourunderstanding ofhowstates canbetter deal withmisdeeds committed by
normativecitizensblindedbycognitivebiasesregardingtheirownethicality.Bybridging
the gap between new findings of behavioral ethics and traditional methods used to
modify behavior, Feldman proposes a “law of good people” that should be read by
scholarsandpolicymakersaroundtheworld.
YuvalFeldmanistheMoriLazarofProfessorofLegalResearchatBar-IlanUniversity.He
holds a PhD in Jurisprudence and Social Policy from the University of California,
Berkeley (2004). His research focuses on compliance, law and behavioral economics,
andempiricallegalstudies.Hehascoauthoredmorethan50papersandhaswonmore
than20researchgrantsandfellowships,includingoneattheEdmondJ.SafraResearch
LabatHarvardUniversity.FeldmanisaSeniorResearchFellowattheIsraelDemocracy
Institute, where he advises various governmental bodies on the usage of behavioral
sciences, in areas related to regulatory design, corruption, and enforcement. In 2016,
hewaselectedtotheIsraelYoungAcademy.
“Afascinating,comprehensiveexplorationofthecomplexitiesofhumanmotivations–and
of how to get good people to do really good things. Opens up new vistas in behavioral
science,andalsoinpublicpolicy.Highlyrecommended.”
CassR.Sunstein,RobertWalmsleyUniversityProfessor,
HarvardUniversity,andcoauthorofNudge
“Inmid-twentiethcentury,HannahArendtwascriticizedforspeakingaboutthebanality
of evil in describing Adolf Eichmann, and even today Stanley Milgram’s experiments
showing the ease of ordering people to harm others is difficult to comprehend. Since
then, psychological evidence has accumulated, revealing the undeniable daily harms
thatemergefromtheunintendedactionsof‘good’people.Inthisexcellentbook,Yuval
Feldmanbringsallthebestresearchtothoseinterestedinimaginingthegoodsociety.He
admirablypolishesthegrimyresultsofbehavioralscienceexperimentsuntiltheyshine
withsolutionsforpoliticalandlegalreform.Itisraretoseeascholarwritewiththebroad
sweep Feldman does, and even rarer to have one so effectively persuade that central
conceptsin the law–property, conflictof interest,discrimination –cannot remainin
theirpresentformifonlywewouldconfronttheevidencealreadybeforeus.”
MahzarinR.Banaji,RichardClarkeCabotProfessorofSocialEthics
andChair,DepartmentofPsychology,HarvardUniversity
“More than 40 years ago, economics revolutionized legal theory by analyzing the
incentive effects of laws on people who are rationally self-interested. In recent years,
cognitivepsychologyrevolutionizedlawandeconomicsbyshowinghowlegalincentives
affectrealpeoplewhoarenotpurelyrational.InTheLawofGoodPeople,YuvalFeldman
providesafreshperspectiveonlawsaimedatmotivatinggoodpeople,asopposedtojust
deterringbadpeople.Hiscreativityandknowledgeoflaw,economics,andpsychology
willmakereadersrethinktheincentiveeffectsoflawsandcurrenttheoriesoflawand
economics.”
RobertCooter,HermanSelvinProfessorofLawandCo-Director
ofLawandEconomicsProgram,BerkeleyLawSchool
“Should the law targetthe infamous Mr. Hyde? No, says Yuval Feldman, who demon-
strateswhymostindividualsarenothard-nosedMr.Hydes.Infact,thelawshouldbemuch
moreconcernedwithDr.Jekyll,whocouldturnintoMr.Hydeatalltimes,butwhowill
nevertheless convince himself that he remains the good-natured Dr. Jekyll. In short,
motivational plasticity, as Feldman explains, is a much bigger normative problem than
merelybeinga‘badperson’inthefirstplace.Thisbooknotonlyalertslegalacademiato
thisideabutalsocarefullydiscussestheimplicationsforlegalanalysisanddesign.”
ChristophEngel,Director,MaxPlanckInstituteforResearchonCollectiveGoods
“This book is the first to introduce the large and heterogeneous body of work on
behavioralethicstotheworldoflawandlegalpolicy.Drawinginpartontheauthor’s
ownpioneeringexperimentalwork,thebookmovesbeyondthereigningenforcement-
basedapproachwithitsfocusoncognitionanddeliberationandtakesgreateraccountof
complexmotivations,especiallyofpeoplewithaself-conceptionasbeingagoodperson.
Feldmanprovidesanimportantfirstinstallmentonevaluatinglawandrelatedinterven-
tionsinthelightofthispromisingnewparadigm.”
HenrySmith,FessendenProfessorofLaw,andDirector,Project
ontheFoundationsofPrivateLaw,HarvardLawSchool
“Weavingindisparatethreadsofeconomicsandpsychology,ProfessorFeldmandelivers
anexcitingnewapproachtoourunderstandingofethicalbehavior.Theimplicationsof
this work will influence our understanding of how to regulate good and evil for many
yearstocome.”
JeffreyRachlinski,HenryAllenMarkProfessorofLaw,CornellLawSchool

The Law of Good People
challenging states’ ability to regulate
human behavior
YUVAL FELDMAN
Bar-IlanUniversity
UniversityPrintingHouse,Cambridgecb28bs,UnitedKingdom
OneLibertyPlaza,20thFloor,NewYork,ny10006,USA
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CambridgeUniversityPressispartoftheUniversityofCambridge.
ItfurtherstheUniversity’smissionbydisseminatingknowledgeinthepursuitof
education,learning,andresearchatthehighestinternationallevelsofexcellence.
www.cambridge.org
Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9781107137103
doi:10.1017/9781316480328
©YuvalFeldman2018
Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexception
andtotheprovisionsofrelevantcollectivelicensingagreements,
noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplacewithoutthewritten
permissionofCambridgeUniversityPress.
Firstpublished2018
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmericabySheridanBooks,Inc.
AcataloguerecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary.
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
names:Feldman,Yuval,1971–author.
title:Thelawofgoodpeople:challengingstates’abilitytoregulatehuman
behavior/YuvalFeldman.
description:Cambridge[UK];NewYork,NY:CambridgeUniversityPress,[2018]
identifiers:lccn2017055939|isbn9781107137103
subjects:lcsh:Law–Psychologicalaspects.|Lawandethics.|CYAC:Behavior.
Classification:lcck346.f432018|ddc340/.19–dc23
LCrecordavailableathttps://lccn.loc.gov/2017055939
isbn978-1-107-13710-3Hardback
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URLsforexternalorthird-partyinternetwebsitesreferredtointhispublication
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accurateorappropriate.
Contents
Preface pageix
Acknowledgments xv
1 Introduction 1
2 BehavioralEthicsandtheMeaningof“GoodPeople”
forLegalEnforcement 32
3 RevisitingTraditionalEnforcementInterventions 58
4 RevisitingNon-formalEnforcementInterventions 88
5 SocialNormsandCompliance 105
6 AreAllPeopleEquallyGood? 125
7 PluralisticAccountoftheLaw:TheMultipleEffects
ofLawonBehavior 152
8 EnforcementDilemmasandBehavioralTrade-offs 168
9 TheCorruptionof“GoodPeople” 190
10 Discriminationby“Good”Employers 205
11 SummaryandConclusion 215
Index 235
vii

Preface
Platohasfamouslyarguedthat“lawsaremadetoinstructthegood,andinthehope
thattheremaybenoneedofthem;alsotocontrolthebad,whosehardnessofheart
1
willnotbehinderedfromcrime.”
The premise of this book is that “good” people need laws, but with a different
regulatoryapproach.Forlawtobeabletooperateeffectivelyandleadtobehavioral
change,itneedstounderstandwhy“good”peopleengageinwrongdoing.Yet,even
today,thelaw’smainpurposeisunderstoodasprotectingothersfromtheactionsof
“bad”people.Incontrast,thisbookarguesthatitis“good”people(moreaccurately,
thosewhothinkofthemselvesasgoodpeople)whosebehaviorshouldoccupymore
of the attention of the law. While, for understandable reasons, the legal system is
primarily focusedontheuppertailofthedistribution ofmisconduct,infactmost
misconduct–thoseactswerefertointhebookasordinaryunethicality–isactually
found in the middle of that curve; in many contexts, its treatment
requires completely different assumptions and consequently a modified set of
regulatoryandenforcementtoolsfromthoseusedtopunishseriousmisconduct.
This book assumes that ordinary unethicality is the most common and relevant
typeofbehaviorthatlegalpolicymakersshouldattempttoregulate.Actsofordinary
unethicality are part of most private law disputes in areas such as contact breach,
2
tortiousbehavior,andlackofrespectforpeople’spropertyrights. Inaddition,much
of people’s misconduct in public law, such as tax law, administrative law, and
corporatelaw,involveordinaryunethicality.
Research into behavioral ethics, a growing field within the psychology and
managementliteratures,hasdemonstratedinnumerousfieldandlabexperiments
that people’s unethical behavior stems from numerous cognitive and social
processesthatareonlypartiallyrelatedtopeople’sdeliberativeandawarereasoning;
1 TakenfromJowett,B.(1871).ThedialoguesofPlato(Vol.8).Oxford:OxfordUniversityPress,p.128.
Interestingly,thefollowing“Goodpeopledonotneedlawstotellthemtoactresponsibly,whilebad
peoplewillfindawayaroundthelaws”isamisquotedphraseofPlatothatisindeedbetterforthe
purposesofthebook.
2 Bothtangiblepropertyandevenmoresowithregardtointellectualproperty.
ix
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