Evidence of the Effect of Confirmation-Reports on Dishonesty

Duncan, D. and Li, D. (2017), Liar Liar: Experimental Evidence of the Effect of Confirmation-Reports on Dishonesty. Southern Economic Journal. doi:10.1002/soej.12244

Abstract: We identify the effect of confirmation-reports on dishonesty using data from an experiment where subjects are asked to roll a die and report its outcome using either a self-report or confirmation-report mechanism. We find that relative to self-reports, confirmation-reports have a positive effect on the share of subjects who report honestly. The effect on the magnitude of lies told depends greatly on the accuracy of the prefilled information on the confirmation-report. We argue that these results are driven by changes in the intrinsic costs of lying induced by the confirmation report.

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Obviously, men lie more than women in both conditions.