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Trust, Reciprocity, and Favors in Cooperative Relationships

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  • Atila Abdulkadiroglu
  • Kyle Bagwell

Abstract

We study trust, reciprocity, and favors in a repeated trust game with private information. In our main analysis, players are willing to exhibit trust and thereby facilitate cooperative gains only if such behavior is regarded as a favor that must be reciprocated, either immediately or in the future. The size of a favor owed may decline over time, following neutral periods. Indeed, a favor-exchange relationship with this feature improves on a simple favor-exchange relationship. In some settings, an infrequent and symmetric punishment sustains greater cooperation. A honeymoon period followed by favor-exchange or symmetric punishment can also offer scope for improvement. (JEL C73, D82, Z13)

Suggested Citation

  • Atila Abdulkadiroglu & Kyle Bagwell, 2013. "Trust, Reciprocity, and Favors in Cooperative Relationships," American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 5(2), pages 213-259, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:aejmic:v:5:y:2013:i:2:p:213-59
    Note: DOI: 10.1257/mic.5.2.213
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Ernst Fehr & Simon Gächter, 2000. "Fairness and Retaliation: The Economics of Reciprocity," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 14(3), pages 159-181, Summer.
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    6. Christine Hauser & Hugo Hopenhayn, 2008. "Trading Favors: Optimal Exchange and Forgiveness," Carlo Alberto Notebooks 88, Collegio Carlo Alberto.
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

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    2. Escobar, Juan F. & Llanes, Gastón, 2018. "Cooperation dynamics in repeated games of adverse selection," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 176(C), pages 408-443.
    3. Limbach, Peter & Rau, P. Raghavendra & Schürmann, Henrik, 2023. "The decline of trust across the U.S. finance industry," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 213(C), pages 324-344.
    4. Lesmeister, Simon & Limbach, Peter & Goergen, Marc, 2022. "Trust and monitoring," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    5. Lipnowski, Elliot & Ramos, João, 2020. "Repeated delegation," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 188(C).
    6. George J. Mailath & Andrew Postlewaite & Larry Samuelson, 2016. "Buying Locally," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 57(4), pages 1179-1200, November.
    7. Simon Cornée & Ariane Szafarz, 2014. "Vive la Différence: Social Banks and Reciprocity in the Credit Market," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 125(3), pages 361-380, December.
    8. Jean Guillaume Forand & Jan Zapal, 2017. "The Demand and Supply of Favours in Dynamic Relationships," Working Papers 1705, University of Waterloo, Department of Economics, revised Sep 2017.
    9. Limbach, Peter & Rau, P. Raghavendra & Schürmann, Henrik, 2020. "The Death of Trust Across the U.S. Finance Industry," CFR Working Papers 20-05, University of Cologne, Centre for Financial Research (CFR), revised 2020.
    10. Batista, Catia & Silverman, Dan & Yang, Dean, 2015. "Directed giving: Evidence from an inter-household transfer experiment," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 2-21.
    11. Olszewski, Wojciech & Safronov, Mikhail, 2018. "Efficient chip strategies in repeated games," Theoretical Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 13(3), September.
    12. Jeitschko, Thomas D. & Lau, C. Oscar, 2017. "Soft transactions," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 122-134.
    13. Du, Qianqian & Hellmann, Thomas, 2024. "Getting tired of your friends: The dynamics of venture capital relationships," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    14. Ravi Bapna & Liangfei Qiu & Sarah Rice, 2014. "Repeated Interactions vs. Social Ties: Quantifying the Economic Value of Trust, Forgiveness, and Reputation Using a Field Experiment," Working Papers 14-07, NET Institute.
    15. Li, Jin & Powell, Michael, 2020. "Multilateral interactions improve cooperation under random fluctuations," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 358-382.
    16. Samuelson, Larry & Stacchetti, Ennio, 2017. "Even up: Maintaining relationships," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 169(C), pages 170-217.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • C73 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Stochastic and Dynamic Games; Evolutionary Games
    • D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design
    • Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification

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