The external validity of giving in the dictator game

Axel Franzen () and Sonja Pointner

Experimental Economics, 2013, vol. 16, issue 2, 155-169

Abstract: We investigate the external validity of giving in the dictator game by using the misdirected letter technique in a within-subject design. First, subjects participated in standard dictator games (double blind) conducted in labs in two different studies. Second, after four to five weeks (study 1) or two years (study 2), we delivered prepared letters to the same subjects. The envelopes and the contents of the letters were designed to create the impression that they were misdirected by the mail delivery service. The letters contained 10 Euros (20 Swiss Francs in study 2) corresponding to the endowment of the in-lab experiments. We observe in both studies that subjects who showed other-regarding behavior in the lab returned the misdirected letters more often than subjects giving nothing, suggesting that in-lab behavior is related to behavior in the field. Copyright Economic Science Association 2013

Keywords: Other-regarding preferences; Fairness; Dictator game; Behavioral game theory; External validity; Misdirected letter technique; Field experiment; C91; C93; D03; D63; D64 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (54)

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DOI: 10.1007/s10683-012-9337-5

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