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Articles 1 - 11 of 11
Full-Text Articles in Behavioral Economics
A Multi-Group Public Goods Game Experiment, Aaron S. Berman
A Multi-Group Public Goods Game Experiment, Aaron S. Berman
Behavioral and Computational Economics (MS) Theses
People belong to many different groups, and few belong to the same network of groups. Moreover, people routinely reduce their involvement in dysfunctional groups while increasing involvement in those they find more attractive. The net effect can be an increase in overall cooperation and the partial isolation of free-riders, even if free-riders are never punished, excluded, or recognized. We test this conjecture with a multi-good extension of the standard finitely repeated public goods game. Our results from four treatments suggest that the multi-group setting indeed raises overall cooperation and dampens the impact of free-riders.
Charity Begins At Home: Investigating How Culture Shapes In-Group Bias In Altruistic Behavior, Angira Shukla
Charity Begins At Home: Investigating How Culture Shapes In-Group Bias In Altruistic Behavior, Angira Shukla
Master's Theses
The paper builds a structural model of altruistic transfers based on identity matches with another individual and estimates the weights that people place on the characteristic matches. We also take a comparative look at the role of culture in these transfers. The culture here is trying to contrast a traditional society versus a cosmopolitan one. I run an experiment in India to examine these differences. I find that in both the urban and rural samples individuals tend to give more to girls and donate largely on the basis of the need of the receiver. I also find that the rural …
Impacts Of Rising Temperatures On Human Behavior With A Focus On Gender Differences, Stephanie Marie Emilia J. Hermoso
Impacts Of Rising Temperatures On Human Behavior With A Focus On Gender Differences, Stephanie Marie Emilia J. Hermoso
Master's Theses
Climate change is one of the biggest and most pressing issues the world is facing today. While its economic implications are substantial, it is also important to investigate the effects of climate change on human behavior. This paper examines the relationship of rising temperatures and its effect on an individual’s cooperative behavior – specifically egalitarianism, generosity, selfishness, and spite. This study will focus on the differences between how males and females react to the temperature. Research indicates that there are substantial behavioral differences between men and women. How do the economic decisions of men and women differ when interacted with …
Ties That Bind: Allomaternal Care And Cooperation Among Matrilocal And Patrilocal Northeast Indian Tribes, Shreeja Guha
Ties That Bind: Allomaternal Care And Cooperation Among Matrilocal And Patrilocal Northeast Indian Tribes, Shreeja Guha
Master's Theses
Why do humans cooperate? Given the extensive range of literature from various disciplines on the puzzle of human cooperation, there is no one answer to that question. In this paper, I look at whether childcare provided by individuals other than the genetic mother, i.e. allomaternal care, can be one possible explanation for the evolution of human cooperation, especially in small communities with no formal childcare. The data for this study comes from field experiments & surveys conducted with a sample of 416 mothers and fathers from matrilocal and patrilocal tribes in North-east India. I present evidence that allomaternal care plays …
Interfirm Network Analysis In Marginal Tourist Destinations: The Mediator Company In Business Relationships, Giovanni Ruggieri, Gaspare Varvaro, Salvatore Iannolino
Interfirm Network Analysis In Marginal Tourist Destinations: The Mediator Company In Business Relationships, Giovanni Ruggieri, Gaspare Varvaro, Salvatore Iannolino
International Journal of Islands Research
The literature on tourist destinations and the use of empirical approaches evidence the need to adopt this model to increase tourism economies. In model application, the enterprises, and local stakeholders, sometimes represent limitations or opportunities. This article opens the view to tourist destination networks, described as relational structures that can influence and determine the destination-building process. The Network Analysis methodology offers a better understanding of inter-firm relational dynamics when applied in a small context, and in this case, the application was undertaken on the island of Sicily, in Menfi town and its hinterland. Findings show the presence of a company …
Playing Games To Improve Conceptual Understanding And Cooperation In Social Dilemmas., Jason R Bush
Playing Games To Improve Conceptual Understanding And Cooperation In Social Dilemmas., Jason R Bush
College of Arts & Sciences Senior Theses
People make decisions every day that have significant impact on others. The current experiment investigates the learning and decision-making processes involved when small groups confront a complex social dilemma under different learning conditions designed to imitate common educational interventions used in classrooms and non-laboratory settings. Participants (N=96) were randomly assigned to one of three conditions. In the Explore-First condition (n=32), participants played one round of a simulated social dilemma board game before receiving a lesson on social dilemmas, then played a second round. In the Lesson-First condition (n=32), participants received the lesson before playing …
Centrality And Cooperation In Networks, Boris Van Leeuwen, Abhijit Ramalingam, David Rojo Arjona, Arthur Schram
Centrality And Cooperation In Networks, Boris Van Leeuwen, Abhijit Ramalingam, David Rojo Arjona, Arthur Schram
Economics Faculty Articles and Research
We investigate the effects of centrality on cooperation in groups. Players with centrality keep a group together by having a pivotal position in a network. In some of our experimental treatments, players can vote to exclude others and prevent them from further participation in the group. We find that, in the presence of exclusion, central players contribute significantly less than others, and that this is tolerated by those others. Because of this tolerance, teams with centrality manage to maintain high levels of cooperation.
Cooperation And Reciprocity In Anonymous Interactions: Other-Regarding Preferences And Quasi-Magical Thinking, Gregory Klevans
Cooperation And Reciprocity In Anonymous Interactions: Other-Regarding Preferences And Quasi-Magical Thinking, Gregory Klevans
Theses and Dissertations
In economic experiments, players often demonstrate concerns for the relative payoffs between themselves and other subjects, in addition to their own payoffs. In addition, they appear to do their parts to achieve efficient outcomes, particularly when they are ignorant of the opponent's decision. I present a parsimonious model of other-regarding preferences and quasi-magical thinking that explains such behavior, and I apply it to four games: the prisoner's dilemma, the traveler's dilemma, the ultimatum game, and the trust game.
Investigating The Endogeneity Of Risk Attitudes: Experimental Evidence Involving Cooperation And Competition, Erik Solli
Investigating The Endogeneity Of Risk Attitudes: Experimental Evidence Involving Cooperation And Competition, Erik Solli
Honors Theses
Individual decision making is at the core of microeconomics. Rarely, however, are decisions made in environments without some element of uncertainty or even in isolation. While people may differ in their inherent willingness to take on risk, their preferences could change when new information is learned or a new relationship is fostered. I designed an experiment in which participants were asked to make investment decisions involving different levels of risk. The participants completed task between these gambles which allowed me to introduce competitive and collaborative relationships. I was interested in: (1) understanding the factors that are important to explaining risk …
Cooperation Among Strangers Under The Shadow Of The Future, Gabriele Camera, M. Casari
Cooperation Among Strangers Under The Shadow Of The Future, Gabriele Camera, M. Casari
Economics Faculty Articles and Research
We study the emergence of norms of cooperation in experimental economies populated by strangers interacting indefinitely. Can these economies achieve full efficiency even without formal enforcement institutions? Which institutions for monitoring and enforcement facilitate cooperation? Finally, what classes of strategies do subjects employ? We find that, first, cooperation can be sustained even in anonymous settings; second, some type of monitoring and punishment institutions significantly promote cooperation; and, third, subjects mostly employ strategies that are selective in punishment.
Oxytocin Increases Generosity In Humans, Paul J. Zak, Angela Stanton, Sheila Ahmadi
Oxytocin Increases Generosity In Humans, Paul J. Zak, Angela Stanton, Sheila Ahmadi
Business Faculty Articles and Research
Human beings routinely help strangers at costs to themselves. Sometimes the help offered is generous-offering more than the other expects. The proximate mechanisms supporting generosity are not well-understood, but several lines of research suggest a role for empathy. In this study, participants were infused with 40 IU oxytocin (OT) or placebo and engaged in a blinded, one-shot decision on how to split a sum of money with a stranger that could be rejected. Those on OT were 80% more generous than those given a placebo. OT had no effect on a unilateral monetary transfer task dissociating generosity from altruism. OT …