Other-regarding Preferences, Group Identity and Political Participation: An Experiment

Pedro Robalo, Arthur Schram and Joep Sonnemans ()
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Pedro Robalo: CREED, University of Amsterdam

No 13-079/I, Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers from Tinbergen Institute

Abstract: We experimentally study the relationship between other-regarding preferences, group identity and political participation. In doing so, we propose a novel group identity induction procedure that succeeds in creating environments where in-group bias is either high or low. At the individual level, we find that both altruistic subjects and group identifiers participate above average. The most competitive subjects participate much less often than other types, while the most altruistic subjects manage to sustain high participation levels. At the aggregate level, we observe only few statistically significant differences between environments where group identity is high and low. This suggests that the higher participation observed in field settings for close-knit (political) groups might be due to underlying mobilization processes rather than a heightened sense of group-belonging.

Keywords: Group identity; Other-regarding preferences; Political participation; Participation Game; Experiment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A13 C91 C92 D72 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013-06-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cbe, nep-cdm, nep-exp, nep-pol and nep-soc
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:tin:wpaper:20130079

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