Honesty in a box
Acting dishonestly often pays. So does acting honestly go against our own self-interest?
Travelling along Britain’s rural roads one doesn’t just encounter octagonal former toll houses (and real tolls). Something else that was unfamiliar to me (having grown up in a different country) is the honesty box. On the roadside you see improvised racks with boxes of eggs, fresh produce, pieces of cake, jars of chutney and such like. A piece of cardboard announces the prices, and passers-by are expected to leave the exact money in box provided for that purpose when they take one of the items on offer.
Seen through an economist’s eye, the fact that this practice is as widespread as ever suggests that there is both a steady demand and a persistent supply in this peculiar market. If the goods on offer did not appeal to the customers, the tradition would wither. But as personal experience confirms, the eggs are generally super fresh, and the cakes can be to die for. Similarly, if the trust of the providers of the stuff was misplaced and they didn’t get a decent return, they’d have long given up on the idea.
Give a little, take a little
And yet… There are no official statistics about the size of the honesty market, but a couple of recent anecdotes indicate that all is not well…
