The Gift and the Centipede

Egbert, Henrik (2017): The Gift and the Centipede. Published in: Structure and Dynamics: eJournal of Anthropological and Related Sciences , Vol. 10, No. 1 (23 July 2017): pp. 22-29.

Abstract

This paper addresses the similarity between behavioural economics and social anthropology with respect to approaches on repeated reciprocity. The case at hand is the application of the Centipede game to Marcel Mauss’s concept of the Gift. In a Centipede game players interact in an alternating sequence of decisions to take or to pass an endowment. Mauss describes sequences of reciprocal giving in potlatch cultures, in which strict obligations determine choice options. The paper shows that models developed in behavioural economics, such as the Centipede game, can also be applied to prominent contexts in economic anthropology.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Gift, Centipede game, Potlatch game, Marcel Mauss, reciprocity
• Subjects: Z - Other Special Topics > Z1 - Cultural Economics ; Economic Sociology ; Economic Anthropology > Z13 - Economic Sociology ; Economic Anthropology ; Social and Economic Stratification

References

Binmore K (2007) Playing for Real. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Bornstein G, Kugler T, Ziegelmeyer, A (2004) Individual and group decisions in the Centipede Game: Are groups more ‘rational’ players? Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 40(5): 599–605.

Camerer CF (2003) Behavioral Game Theory. New York/Princeton: Russell Sage Foundation/Princeton University Press.

Carrier JG (2014) Economic deviance. Anthropology Today 30(6): 1–2.

Danese M, Mittone L (2015) Norms and trades: An experimental investigation. Rationality and Society 27(3): 259–282.

Douglas M (1990) Introduction. In Marcel Mauss The Gift: The Form and Reason for Exchange in Archaic Societies (translated by WD Halls). London: Routledge, pp. 1–7.

Egbert H (2015) The return of homo oeconomicus to anthropology: Comment on ‘Economic deviance’ by James G Carrier. Anthropology Today 31(3): 17.

Egbert H (2017) The Gift and Pay-What-You-Want Pricing. Journal of Business Anthropology (forthcoming).

Egbert H, Sedlarski T (2016) Marcel Mauss and New Institutional Economics (in Bulgarian). Economic and Social Alternatives 2016(4): 121–129.

Falk A, Fischbacher U (2006) A theory of reciprocity. Games and Economic Behavior 54: 293–315.

Fey M, McKelvey RD, Palfrey TR (1996) An experimental study of constant sum games. International Journal of Game Theory 25(3): 269–287.

Greiner B, Levati MV (2005) Indirect reciprocity in cyclical networks: An experimental study. Journal of Economic Psychology 26(5): 711–731.

Hahn HP, Schmidt M, Seitz E (eds.) (2015) Marcel Mauss: Schriften zum Geld. Frankfurt: Suhrkamp.

Hann C (2006) The gift and reciprocity: Perspectives from economic anthropology. In SC Kolm and J Mercier Ythier (eds.) Handbook of the Economics of Giving, Altruism and Reciprocity, pp. 208–369. Amsterdam: Elsevier.

Hann C, Hart K (2011) Economic Anthropology. Cambridge: Polity Press.

Hart K (2007) Marcel Mauss: In pursuit of the whole. A review essay. Comparative Studies in Society and History 49(2): 473–485.

Henrich J (2000) Does culture matter in economic behaviour? Ultimatum game bargaining among the Machiguenga of Peruvian Amazon. American Economic Review 90(4): 973–979.

Henrich J, Boyd R, Bowles S, Camerer C, Fehr E, Gintis H, McElreath R (2001). In search of homo economicus: Behavioral experiments in 15 small-scale societies. American Economic Review. Papers and Proceedings 91(2): 73–78.

Ho TH, Weigelt K (2005) Trust building among strangers. Management Science 51(4): 519–530.

Kranton RE (1996) Reciprocal exchange: A self-sustaining system. American Economic Review 86(4): 830–851.

Krockow EM, Colman AM, Pulford BD (2016) Exploring cooperation and competition in the Centipede game through verbal protocol analysis. European Journal of Social Psychology (forthcoming 2016).

Liebersohn H (2011) The Return of the Gift: European History of a Global Idea. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Mauss M (1923-1924) Essai sur le don. Forme et raison de l’échange dans les sociétés primitives. L'Année Sociologique 1923/24(1): 30-186.

Mauss M (1990) The Gift: The Form and Reason for Exchange in Archaic Societies (translated by WD Halls). London: Routledge.

McKelvey R, Palfrey T (1992) An experimental study of the centipede game. Econometrica 60(4): 803–836.

Murphy RO, Rapoport A, Parco JE (2004) Population learning of cooperative behaviour in a three-person Centipede Game. Rationality and Society 16(1), 91–120.

Nagel R, Tang FF (1998) Experimental results on the Centipede Game in normal form: An investigation on learning. Journal of Mathematical Psychology 42(2-3): 356–384.

Parco, JE, Rapoport A, Stein WE (2002) Effects of financial incentives on the breakdown of mutual trust. Psychological Science 13(3): 292–297.

Palacios-Huerta I, Volij O (2009) Field centipedes. American Economic Review 99(4): 1619–1635.

Rapoport A, Stein WE, Parco JE, Nicholas TE (2003) Equilibrium play and adaptive learning in a three-person Centipede Game. Games and Economic Behavior 43: 239–265.

Rosenthal R (1981) Games of perfect information, predatory pricing, and the chain store paradox. Journal of Economic Theory 25(1): 92–100.

Thaler RH (1980) Toward a positive theory of consumer choice. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization 1(1): 39–60.