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Experimental Study of Bilateral Cooperation Under a Political Conflict: The Case of Israelis and Palestinians

Author

Listed:
  • Sebastian J. Goerg
  • Jan Meise
  • Gari Walkowitz
  • Eyal Winter

Abstract

We investigate strategic interactions of Israelis and Palestinians within a controlled laboratory experiment. In our first treatment we retrieve cooperation benchmarks prevailing within both subject pools. Then we measure cooperation levels and associated beliefs between Israelis and Palestinians. Treatment three assesses the influence of pre-play face-to-face encounter on cooperative behavior. Our findings are: The degree of expected and actual cooperation within the Palestinian subject pool is significantly higher as compared to the respective levels found in Israel. In line with previous findings, cooperation decreases if subjects are paired with subjects from the other subject pool. Previously detected subject pool differences are not offset. The drop in inter-subject pool cooperation can be outweighed by the introducing of face-to-face communication, which dramatically increases the cooperation rates. The differences in contributions between Palestinians and Israelis are associated with differences in subjects' beliefs. Face-to-face encounter increases and balances beliefs and therefore enhances cooperation.

Suggested Citation

  • Sebastian J. Goerg & Jan Meise & Gari Walkowitz & Eyal Winter, 2013. "Experimental Study of Bilateral Cooperation Under a Political Conflict: The Case of Israelis and Palestinians," Cologne Graduate School Working Paper Series 04-01, Cologne Graduate School in Management, Economics and Social Sciences, revised 21 Oct 2013.
  • Handle: RePEc:cgr:cgsser:04-01
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    Cited by:

    1. Zhang, Zhe & Zhang, Xu & Putterman, Louis, 2019. "Trust and cooperation at a confluence of worlds: An experiment in Xinjiang, China," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 161(C), pages 128-144.
    2. Sebastian J Goerg & Heike Hennig-Schmidt & Gari Walkowitz & Eyal Winter, 2016. "In Wrong Anticipation - Miscalibrated Beliefs between Germans, Israelis, and Palestinians," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(6), pages 1-16, June.
    3. Kuroda, Michael & Li, Jieran & Shachat, Jason & Wei, Lijia & Zhu, Bochen, 2022. "An experimental study of intra- and international cooperation: Chinese and American play in the Prisoner’s Dilemma Game," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Bargaining; Belief-structure; Israeli-Palestinian Conflict; International Cooperation; Prisoner's Dilemma;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • A13 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - Relation of Economics to Social Values
    • C72 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Noncooperative Games
    • C91 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Individual Behavior
    • F51 - International Economics - - International Relations, National Security, and International Political Economy - - - International Conflicts; Negotiations; Sanctions

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