Preferences for Non-Interference in Pay

Abstract

A recent literature points to individuals having preferences for autonomy. Autonomy includes an individual’s ability to choose a course of actions that meaning-fully affects his or her outcomes as well as an individual enjoying a certain degree of non-interference from others. In this paper we focus on the non-interference from others and show that preferences for non-interference may be important for at least a half of the autonomy-seeking individuals.

Keywords: Independence, freedom, non-interference, authority, control, Becker-DeGroot-Marschak mechanism, laboratory experiment

JEL Classification: C91, D01, D91, M54