Spousal Dictator Game: Household Decisions and Other-Regarding Preferences

Matthew K. Gnagey, Therese C. Grijalva and Rong Rong
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Matthew K. Gnagey: Department of Economics, Weber State University, 1337 Edvalson St., Ogden, UT 84408-3807, USA
Therese C. Grijalva: Department of Economics, Weber State University, 1337 Edvalson St., Ogden, UT 84408-3807, USA
Rong Rong: Department of Resource Economics, University of Massachusetts Amherst, 80 campus center way, Amherst, MA 01003, USA

Games, 2018, vol. 9, issue 3, 1-11

Abstract: Using a laboratory experiment, we collected data on dictator giving among student strangers and married couples in a suburban area in the United States. Confirming common belief and prior empirical evidence, we find that giving among spouses is greater than giving among anonymous students. We further investigated factors associated with spousal giving which may provide insight for the development of future theories, or into explaining other-regarding preferences. Our data shows that giving is positively associated with who manages household money and controls household income. This result is robust after controlling for each spouse’s personal income and using various econometric specifications. The results suggest that spousal giving may be due to household economic roles in addition to other-regarding preferences.

Keywords: dictator game; household economics; spousal giving (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C C7 C70 C71 C72 C73 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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