Noblesse Oblige? Determinants of Survival in a Life and Death Situation

Bruno Frey, David A. Savage and Benno Torgler

No 389, IEW - Working Papers from Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - University of Zurich

Abstract: This paper explored the determinants of survival in a life and death situation created by an external and unpredictable shock. We are interested to see whether pro-social behaviour matters in such extreme situations. We therefore focus on the sinking of the RMS Titanic as a quasi-natural experiment do provide behavioural evidence which is rare in such a controlled and life threatening event. The empirical results support that social norm such as �women and children first� survive in such an environment. We also observe that women of reproductive age have a higher probability of surviving among women. On the other hand, we observe that crew members used their information advantage and their better access to resources (e.g. lifeboats) to generate a higher probability of surviving. The paper also finds that passenger class, fitness, group size, and cultural background matter.

Keywords: Decision under Pressure; Altruism; Social Norms; Interdependent Preferences; Excess of Demand (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D63 D64 D71 D81 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2008-09
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Downloads: (external link)
https://www.zora.uzh.ch/id/eprint/52342/1/iewwp389.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Behavior under Extreme Conditions: The Titanic Disaster (2011)
Journal Article: Noblesse oblige? Determinants of survival in a life-and-death situation (2010)
Working Paper: Noblesse Oblige? Determinants of Survival in a Life and Death Situation (2008)
Working Paper: Noblesse Oblige? Determinants of Survival in a Life and Death Situation (2008)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zur:iewwpx:389

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