Which is the Fair Sex? Gender Differences in Altruism

James Andreoni () and Lise Vesterlund ()

Staff General Research Papers from Iowa State University, Department of Economics

Abstract: We study gender differences in altruism by examining a modified dictator game with varying incomes and prices. Our results indicate that the question "which is the fair sex?" has a complicated answer--when altruism is expensive, women are kinder, but when it is cheap, men are more altruistic. That is, we find that the male and female "demand curves for altruism" cross, and that men are more responsive to price changes. Furthermore, men are more likely to be either perfectly selfish or perfectly selfless, whereas women tend to be "equalitarians" who prefer to share evenly.

Date: 2001-04-09
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Published in Quarterly Journal of Economics, February 2001, pp. 293-312.

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Related works:
Working Paper: Which is the fair sex?: Gender differences in altruism (1998)
Journal Article: Which Is The Fair Sex? Gender Differences In Altruism (2001)
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Persistent link: http://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:isu:genres:1951

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