ON THE NATURE OF RECIPROCAL MOTIVES |
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| Authors: | JAMES C COX CARY A DECK |
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| Institution: | Arizona Public Service Professor, Department of Economics and Director, Economic Science Laboratory, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721-0108. Phone 1-520-621-2164, Fax 1-520-621-8450, Email;Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 72701-1201. Phone 1-479-575-6226, Fax 1-478-575-3241, Email |
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| Abstract: | Data from 692 subjects in 11 experimental treatments provide a systematic exploration of the existence and nature of reciprocal behavior in two-person games. The experimental design discriminates between motivations of reciprocity and (nonreciprocal) other-regarding preferences. The existence of positive reciprocity is found to be dependent on the level of social distance but not the level of monetary payoff. The larger context in which a decision is made is found to have a significant effect on negative reciprocity. These findings on payoff levels, social distance, decision context, and reciprocity have implications for both theoretical modeling and experimental design. (JEL C70 , C91 , D63 , D64 ) |
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