While the causes for upward income mobility receive considerable attention, the behavioural impact of the prospect of income mobility has been largely overlooked. We design an experiment and a survey to investigate if the prospect of income mobility influences antisocial behaviour. In the experiment, subjects can, at a cost, reduce others’ payoffs and low-income subjects can move up the income distribution. We find that antisocial behaviour occurs more frequently when mobility is not possible. High-income subjects benefit most from the prospect of upward mobility as they are less likely to encounter antisocial behaviour relative to the immobility setting. Mobility by means of effort has lower rates of antisocial behaviour relative to mobility through luck. This is particularly true for low-income individuals who are less likely to engage in antisocial behaviour when mobility occurs through effort. A large majority of survey respondents believe that mobility will decrease antisocial behaviour, predominantly because an environment where it is possible to move up is considered fairer.

尽管引起收入流动性上升的原因受到了相当多的关注，但收入流动性前景对行为的影响却被大大忽略了。我们设计了一个实验和一项调查，以调查收入流动性的前景是否会影响反社会行为。在实验中，受试者可以以一定的代价减少他人的收益，而低收入受试者可以提高收入分配。我们发现，在无法流动的情况下，反社会行为发生的频率更高。高收入人群受益于向上运动的前景，因为相对于静止不动的环境，他们不太可能遇到反社会行为。相对于运气，通过努力进行的活动具有较低的反社会行为发生率。对于低收入个体而言尤其如此，当他们通过努力进行流动时，他们不太可能从事反社会行为。绝大多数调查受访者认为，流动性会降低反社会行为，主要是因为人们认为有可能上升的环境更加公平。