Reciprocity, Exchange and Redistribution. An experimental investigation inspired by Karl Polanyi�s The Economy as Instituted Process

Giuseppe Danese () and Luigi Mittone

No 803, CEEL Working Papers from Cognitive and Experimental Economics Laboratory, Department of Economics, University of Trento, Italia

Abstract: Inspired by Karl Polanyi�s writings on three allocation modes, namely reciprocity, exchange and redistribution, we first tested a reciprocity ring with ten players. The baseline treatment, with no possibility of socialisation, displayed very low levels of allocative efficiency. Consistently with the Polanyian approach to reciprocity, we found that inducing the notion of symmetry among the players increased efficiency levels significantly. We then simulated a market exchange, with significant allocative efficiency gains. We conclude that indirect-reciprocity rings among anonymous players can seldom function in the absence of definite institutional refinements, promoting forms of symmetry-acknowledgement.

Keywords: Reciprocity; Redistribution; Exchange; Comparative Institutional Analysis. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C91 D02 Z13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2008
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cbe, nep-exp and nep-soc
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:trn:utwpce:0803

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