Where Do Social Preferences Come From?

Chaning Jang and John Lynham
Additional contact information
Chaning Jang: Princeton University, Department of Psychology

No 201511, Working Papers from University of Hawaii at Manoa, Department of Economics

Abstract: Where do preferences for fairness come from? We use a unique field setting to test for a spillover of sharing norms from the workplace to a laboratory experiment. Fishermen working in teams receive random income shocks (catching fish) that they must regularly divide among themselves. We demonstrate a clear correlation between sharing norms in the field and sharing norms in the lab. Furthermore, the spillover effect is stronger for fishermen who have been exposed to a sharing norm for longer, suggesting that our findings are not driven by selection effects. Our results are consistent with the hypothesis that work environments shape social preferences.

JEL-codes: B4 C7 C9 D1 Q2 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015-08
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cbe, nep-evo, nep-exp, nep-hrm, nep-net and nep-soc
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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http://www.economics.hawaii.edu/research/workingpapers/WP_15-11.pdf First version, 2015 (application/pdf)

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Journal Article: Where do social preferences come from? (2015)
Working Paper: Where Do Social Preferences Come From? (2015)
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