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

Le Zhang and Andreas Ortmann

No 2012-50A, Discussion Papers from School of Economics, The 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.

Keywords: Dictator game; Joy-of-Destruction game; Money burning; Altruism; Nastiness; Efficiency considerations; Mach-IV test (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A13 C79 D03 D64 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 23 pages
Date: 2013-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cbe, nep-exp, nep-gth, nep-hpe and nep-soc
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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