Gift Giving and the Evolution of Cooperation

Lorne Carmichael and W. Bentley Macleod ()

International Economic Review, 1997, vol. 38, issue 3, 485-509

Abstract: Gift giving is a practice common to many societies. In an evolutionary model, the social custom of giving gifts at the beginning of a relationship can lead to trust and cooperation. The evolutionary approach makes predictions about the character of the goods that can be used as gifts. For example, gift goods may have little use value even at low levels of consumption. Although the gifts themselves are useless, the institution is not. Copyright 1997 by Economics Department of the University of Pennsylvania and the Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association.

Date: 1997
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