Rating rules in the helping game: An axiomatic approach

Marietta Leina, Andrea, Patel, Amrish, Sugden, Robert and Turocy, Theodore L. (2025) Rating rules in the helping game: An axiomatic approach. Economics Letters. ISSN 0165-1765 (In Press)

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Abstract

We examine the principles underlying binary rating rules in a stylised helping game. We study a recurrent setting in which each person can choose whether to help another randomly-chosen person at a cost to themselves. We consider public mechanisms which assign a binary rating to each person as a function of their past choices. We propose an axiomatic framework that incorporates (i) principles that align any change in rating with the perceived legitimacy of help withheld or given, and (ii) principles that capture monotonicity with respect to help withheld or given. Our main result is that only four rules satisfy our axioms: two standing rules, a binary form of image scoring, and a modified binary image scoring. These results show how a single rating can encode two normative perspectives: the “desert” perspective, associating worthiness with kindness and deservingness, and the “club” perspective, viewing worthiness as membership in a cooperative group.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	helping game,indirect reciprocity,reputation,axiomatic approach,economics, econometrics and finance(all),2*,economics letters is a recognised journal with a model of quick publication of peer-reviewed short papers ,/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/2000
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Economics
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Economic Theory Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Behavioural Economics Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Centres > Centre for Behavioural and Experimental Social Sciences Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Centres > Centre for Competition Policy Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Environment, Resources and Conflict
Depositing User:	LivePure Connector
Date Deposited:	10 Jun 2025 11:30
Last Modified:	10 Jun 2025 11:30
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/99429
DOI:	issn:0165-1765

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