Cooperation and Competition in Intergenerational Experiments in the Field and the Laboratory

Gary Charness and Marie Claire Villeval

American Economic Review, 2009, vol. 99, issue 3, 956-78

Abstract: There is economic pressure to postpone the retirement age, but employers are still reluctant to employ older workers. We investigate the comparative behavior of juniors and seniors in experiments conducted both onsite with the employees of two large firms and in a conventional laboratory environment with students and retirees. We show that seniors are no more risk averse than juniors and are typically more cooperative; both juniors and working seniors respond strongly to competition. The implication is that it may be beneficial to define additional incentives near the end of the career to motivate and retain older workers. (JEL C90, J14, J26, M12, M51)

JEL-codes: C90 J14 J26 M12 M51 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009
Note: DOI: 10.1257/aer.99.3.956
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (98)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Cooperation and Competition in Intergenerational Experiments in the Field and the Laboratory (2009)
Working Paper: Cooperation and Competition in Intergenerational Experiments in the Field and in the Laboratory (2009)
Working Paper: Cooperation and Competition in Intergenerational Experiments in the Field and the Laboratory (2009)
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