An Analysis on the Moral Cost of Chinese Peasants’ Selection of Legal Acts

Abstract

Moral cost has a crucial impact on an individual’s selection of a legal act. Under certain circumstances, when moral cost of a law-abiding action is higher than the moral cost of an illegal act, illegal act will prevail, and instead of being ashamed, people will even be proud of breaking laws. From a moral cost perspective, this paper uses economic analysis to explain the impacts of morality of Chinese peasants’ selection on legal acts, which are important for the establishment and improvement of a legal environment in the rural areas of China.