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On the Interpretation of Giving, Taking, and Destruction in Dictator Games and Joy-of-Destruction Games

Author

Listed:
  • Le Zhang

    (University of New South Wales)

  • Andreas Ortmann

    (University of New South Wales)

Abstract

The literature on dictator [D] and joy-of-destruction [JoD] games demonstrates that people can be nice and nasty. We study, by way of an experiment with between-subjects and within-subjects features, to what extent behaviors are context dependent and consistent. We find that, for one-shot D and JoD games, our participants' niceness and nastiness depend on the choice set. Contradicting the observed altruism and nastiness, participants tend to be selfish but nonetheless make choices that increase social welfare when given the opportunity.

Suggested Citation

  • Le Zhang & Andreas Ortmann, 2013. "On the Interpretation of Giving, Taking, and Destruction in Dictator Games and Joy-of-Destruction Games," Discussion Papers 2012-50A, School of Economics, The University of New South Wales.
    • Handle: RePEc:swe:wpaper:2012-50a
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    File URL: http://research.economics.unsw.edu.au/RePEc/papers/2012-50.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    2. Valerio Capraro & Andrea Vanzo, 2019. "The power of moral words: Loaded language generates framing effects in the extreme dictator game," Judgment and Decision Making, Society for Judgment and Decision Making, vol. 14(3), pages 309-317, May.
    3. Sadrieh, Abdolkarim & Schröder, Marina, 2016. "Materialistic, pro-social, anti-social, or mixed – A within-subject examination of self- and other-regarding preferences," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 114-124.
    4. Davood Bayat & Hadi Mohamadpour & Huihua Fang & Pengfei Xu & Frank Krueger, 2023. "The Impact of Order Effects on the Framing of Trust and Reciprocity Behaviors," Games, MDPI, vol. 14(2), pages 1-14, February.
    5. Jipeng Zhang & Elizabeth Brown & Huan Xie, 2020. "Effect of religious priming in prosocial and destructive behaviour," Pacific Economic Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(1), pages 47-68, February.
    6. repec:cup:judgdm:v:14:y:2019:i:3:p:309-317 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Müller, Julia & Schwieren, Christiane & Spitzer, Florian, 2016. "What Drives Destruction? On the Malleability of Anti-Social Behavior," Department of Economics Working Paper Series 238, WU Vienna University of Economics and Business.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Dictator game; Joy-of-Destruction game; Money burning; Altruism; Nastiness; Efficiency considerations; Mach-IV test;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • A13 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - Relation of Economics to Social Values
    • C79 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Other
    • D03 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Behavioral Microeconomics: Underlying Principles
    • D64 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Altruism; Philanthropy; Intergenerational Transfers

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