Machiavelli Preferences Without Blame: Delegating Selfish vs. Generous Decisions in Dictator Games

Glynis Gawn and Robert Innes

Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), 2021, vol. 90, issue C

Abstract: Does the impulse to delegate a decision only arise when delegation mimics a selfish decision vs. a generous one? We address this question using a dictator experiment with two possible payment allocations and an option to delegate the payment decision to another player. Two delegation treatments are considered, one in which the delegation option is payoff-equivalent to a direct choice of a “selfish” allocation (better for the dictator, worse for the receiver) and another where it is equivalent to the direct choice of generous / equal payments. Dictators exhibit a significantly greater propensity to delegate in the selfish delegation treatment than in the generous delegation treatment. Results are consistent with “Machiavelli preferences” that only favor delegation when it promotes self-interested / other-harming outcomes.

Keywords: Delegation; Moral Preference; Dictator Game (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D03 D91 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:soceco:v:90:y:2021:i:c:s2214804320302639

DOI: 10.1016/j.socec.2020.101615

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