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The impact of distance on parochial altruism: An experimental investigation

Béatrice Boulu-Reshef and Jonah Schulhofer-Wohl

European Journal of Political Economy, 2022, vol. 75, issue C

Abstract: Parochial altruism – individual sacrifice to benefit the in-group and harm an out-group –undermines inter-group cooperation and is implicated in a plethora of politically-significant behaviors. We report experimental evidence about the impact of variation in individuals’ distance to in-group members and to out-group members on parochial altruism in a setting in which inter-group conflict is made possible. We find that distance has systematic effects on individual choice. Parochial altruism is stimulated particularly when individuals’ distance to both their in- and out-group is high. Our results suggest that high distance may create a pathway to group-based individual action. Existing research focuses on the interaction between close-knit in-groups and proximate, threatening out-groups as the typical setting in which parochial altruism occurs. Our study indicates the need for future research to investigate how parochial altruism can occur across a wider range of in-group and out-group configurations.

Keywords: Parochial altruism; Distance; Laboratory experiment; Inter-Group Prisoner’s Dilemma-Maximizing Difference; IPD-MD; Conflict; Inter-group conflict (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C91 D74 H4 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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Working Paper: The impact of distance on parochial altruism: An experimental investigation (2022)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:poleco:v:75:y:2022:i:c:s0176268022000374

DOI: 10.1016/j.ejpoleco.2022.102222

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