The Moral Experiment, a website developed by John Bushell, is part pyramid scheme (although he reasonably argues against that), part The Dictator Game, part online-giving app and part ethics study.
In a nutshell: The site charges a £1 monthly subscription fee. Users can subscribe for one, six or 12 months. However, that money goes to the person who referred you via his or her unique URL. The question then becomes whether you’ll keep that money, donate it to charity or some combination of both. That result is then tracked (entirely anonymously) based on criteria each user fills out when registering. Do men give mor e than women? Are certain age groups greedier than others? What factor does race or religion play?
“It will be interesting to see what participants will do with their moral earnings once they have made back their initial £1 subscription fee, essentially breaking even with one friend referral,” Bushell wrote on the site. “Most people on Facebook have at least 150 to 300 friends, the referral process could end up becoming very lucrative for the participants’ moral dilemma.”
The results, while anonymous, are sure to spark controversy especially when there’s no real way to verify an individual user’s age, religious affiliations, race, etc. Still, as of writing, 95% of the money has been donated to charity. It’s a pattern, despite the small user base, that reflects the economic game it’s modeled after.
The dictator game is an experiment in economics. A person (the dictator) is a given a sum of money that he or she can...
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