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To cooperate or not to cooperate? An analysis of in-group favoritism among Syrian refugees

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  • El-Bialy, Nora
  • Fraile Aranda, Elisa
  • Nicklisch, Andreas
  • Saleh, Lamis
  • Voigt, Stefan

Abstract

Does the experience of civil war promote in-group bias among survivors? We try to answer this question by analyzing cooperation in a prisoner's dilemma game among Syrian refugees in two host countries, Germany and Jordan. We use a between-subjects analysis to test our in-group cooperation hypothesis. We find that Syrians are more likely to cooperate when they are interacting with another Syrian participant than when they are interacting with a German or a Jordanian participant. While Syrian refugees self-report a feeling of relative welcome in the host country, punishment of cooperation norm violations by ingroup or out-group members does not differ significantly. We conclude that our results are more likely to be driven by in-group favoritism rather than out-group hostility.

Suggested Citation

  • El-Bialy, Nora & Fraile Aranda, Elisa & Nicklisch, Andreas & Saleh, Lamis & Voigt, Stefan, 2021. "To cooperate or not to cooperate? An analysis of in-group favoritism among Syrian refugees," ILE Working Paper Series 48, University of Hamburg, Institute of Law and Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:ilewps:48
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    cooperation; in-group favoritism; refugees; experiments;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C71 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Cooperative Games
    • C92 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Group Behavior
    • D91 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making

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