To Pay or Not to Pay? Determinants of Unlawful Product Acquisition

We present a laboratory experiment that systematically investigates the determinants of acquisition behavior with a negative externality on a rights holder. We consider social and moral determinants of unlawful behavior as well as standard penalty and punishment risk trade-offs. We find that, while punishment risk and penalty size reduce unlawful behavior, they are not the only determinants that do. Moral determinants matter: there being a victim, and the victim deserving to be the rights holder, makes a difference.  Social norms also matter: controlling for other variables, one point more of social appropriateness increase unlawful behavior by around 30-40%.