Expected Generosity in One-shot Interactions

Brañas-Garza, Pablo and Rodriguez-Lara, Ismael (2014): Expected Generosity in One-shot Interactions.

Abstract

What do we expect of others? Do we expect people to be generous? If so, can we attribute this expected generosity to wishful thinking? Are our expectations, to some extent, related to our personal involvement in the outcome or the size of the stakes? This study investigates expectations on generosity by means of a series of controlled experiments. A total of 205 subjects were recruited and their expectations about the dictator's behavior in the dictator game were elicited. Despite differences in the roles, involvement in the game, the degree of social distance or the variation of stakes, the results are conclusive: subjects seldom predict that dictators will behave selfishly, and the majority of subjects expect that dictators will choose the equal split. This, in turn, implies that generous behavior is not only observed in the lab, but also expected by subjects.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: generosity, expectations, dictator game, experimental evidence
• Subjects: C - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods > C9 - Design of Experiments; D - Microeconomics > D3 - Distribution; D - Microeconomics > D6 - Welfare Economics > D63 - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement; D - Microeconomics > D6 - Welfare Economics > D64 - Altruism ; Philanthropy

References

- Aguiar, F., Brañas-Garza, P., Cobo-Reyes, R., Jimenez, N., and Miller, L.M., 2009. Are women expected to be more generous? Experimental Economics, 12, 93--98

- Ashraf, N., Bohnet, I., Piankov, N., 2006. Decomposing trust and trustworthiness. Experimental Economics 9, 193-208.

- Battigalli, P., Dufwenberg, M., 2007. Guilt in games. The American Economic Review P\&P, 97, 170-176.

- Brañas-Garza, P., 2007. Promoting Helping Behavior in Dictator Games. Journal Economic Psychology, 28(4), 477-486.

- Brañ,as-Garza, P., Durá,n, M.A., Espinosa, M. P., 2009. The Role of Personal Involvement and Responsibility in Unfair Outcomes A Classroom Investigation. Rationality and Society, 21(2), 225-248.

- Brunnermeier, M. K., 2001. Asset pricing under asymmetric information: Bubbles, crashes, technical analysis, and herding. Oxford University Press.

- Cabrales, A. 2010. The causes and economic consequences of envy. SERIEs, 1, 371-386.

- Charness, G., Dufwenberg, M., 2006. Promises and partnership. Econometrica, 74, 1579-1601.

- Chowdhury, S. M., Jeon, J. Y., 2013. Altruism, Anticipation, and Gender, CBESS Discussion Paper 13-06.

- Cooper, D.J., Kagel, J.H., 2012. Other-regarding preferences: A selective survey of experimental results. In: Kagel, J.H., Roth, A.E. (Eds.), Handbook of experimental economics, 2. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ.

- Clark, A., Frijters, P., Shields, M., 2008. Relative income, happiness, and utility: an explanation for the Easterlin paradox and other puzzles. Journal of Economic Literature, 46, 95-144.

- Croson, R., Konow, J., 2009. Social preferences and moral biases. Journal of Economic Behaviour and Organization, 69, 201-212.

- Dreber, A., Ellingsen, T., Johannesson, M., Rand, D. G., 2013. Do people care about social context? Framing effects in dictator games. Experimental Economics,, 16(3), 349-371.

- Eckel, C. C., Grossman, P. J. 1996. Altruism in Anonymous Dictator Games. Games and Economic Behavior, 16(2), 181-191.

- Engel, C., 2011. Dictator games: A meta study. Experimental Economics, 14 (4), 583-610.

- Fischbacher, U., 2007. z-Tree: Zurich toolbox for ready-made economic experiments. Experimental Economics, 10:171-178.

- Fischbacher, U., Gachter, S., 2010. Social Preferences, Beliefs, and the Dynamics of Free Riding in Public Goods Experiments. The American Economic Review, 100(1), 541-556

- Frey, B. S., and Stutzer, A., 2002. What can economists learn from happiness research? Journal of Economic Literature, 40:402-435.

- Frohlich N., Oppenheimer J., Moore, J., 2001. Some doubts about measuring self-interest using dictator games: the cost of anonymity," Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 46, 271-250.

- Gatcher, S., 2012. Human behaviour: A cooperative instinct. Nature, 489, 374-375.

- Gul, F. (1991). A theory of disappointment aversion. Econometrica, 59(3), 667-686.

- Iriberri, N., Rey-Biel, P., 2013. Elicited beliefs and social information in modified dictator games: What do dictators believe other dictators do? Quantitative Economics, 4, 515-547.

- Koszegi, B., Rabin, M., 2006. A model of reference-dependent preferences. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 121(4), 1133-1165.

- Krupka, E. and Weber, R. 2009. The Focusing and Informational Effects of Norms on Pro-Social behaviour. Journal of Economic Psychology, 30, 307-320.

- Khalmetski, K., Ockenfels, A., Werner, P., 2013. Surprising gifts: Theory and laboratory evidence. University of Cologne, Working Paper Series in Economics (No. 61).

- Leider, S., Mœbius, M. M., Rosenblat, T., Do, Q. A., 2009. Directed altruism and enforced reciprocity in social networks. The Quarterly Journal of Economics,, 124(4), 1815-1851.

- List, J. A., 2011. The market for charitable giving. The Journal of Economic Perspectives, 25(2), 157-180.

- Loomes, G., Sugden, R. (1986). Disappointment and dynamic consistency in choice under uncertainty. The Review of Economic Studies, 53(2), 271-282.

- McBride, M. 2010. Money, happiness, and aspirations: An experimental study. Journal of Economic behaviour and Organization, 74, 261-276.

- Ponti, G., Rodriguez-Lara, I., Di Cagno, D., 2014. Doing it now or later with payoff externalities: Experimental evidence on social time preferences. IVIE Working Paper, WP-AD 2014-05.

- Rand, D.G., Greene, J.D., Nowak, M.A., 2012. Spontaneous giving and calculated greed. Nature, 489, 427-430.

- Rigdon, M.L., Levine, A. S. 2011. Gender, Expectations, and the Price of Giving. mimeo.