Monday 16 May 2011

Reward

In Germany the official reward when you find and return something is 3%. In Russia it is 25%. Let's think about this...

We all have an intrinsic motivation to do the right thing, e.g. to return something that does not belong to us. A reward adds external incentive to the internal motivation to ensures the right thing is really done --> reward substitutes moral.

Obviously the German lawmakers consider 3% a reasonable incentive. In Russia 25% is needed. Very interesting, especially considering that this 25% were already used in sovjet (pre-capitalistic) times.

Personally I think the 25% are ridiculous high. But then, it explains why people were so surprised when I found in RU their wallets/cells and returned it.

Anybody knows, how much rewards are usual in other countries?

About this blog

This blog is a close up on Russia and the CIS. I am not giving you the big picture.
I would anyway fail. I am too long here. So beauty & decay,
education & corruption, high culture & kafka-style administration are meanwhile normal for me.
So this blog is like a painting from from Roy Lichtenstein... when you are with your nose on it :) You will just see the dots, not gaining any understanding of the whole.

Most things will look strange in this blog. But you can be sure, I would not live here, if there would not be a lot of great things here. Unfortunately, the weired stories are more interesting to tell & read.
Don’t judge Russia on this blog, if you want to know the country, come over and take a look by your own.

Gilles