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Intergroup inequality and the breakdown of prosociality

Author

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  • Rustam Romaniuc

    (ANTHROPO LAB - Laboratoire d'Anthropologie Expérimentale - ETHICS EA 7446 - Experience ; Technology & Human Interactions ; Care & Society : - ICL - Institut Catholique de Lille - UCL - Université catholique de Lille, Claremont Graduate University - Claremont Graduate University [Claremont, CA ])

  • Gregory Deangelo

    (Claremont Graduate University - Claremont Graduate University [Claremont, CA ])

  • Dimitri Dubois

    (CEE-M - Centre d'Economie de l'Environnement - Montpellier - FRE2010 - INRA - Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique - UM - Université de Montpellier - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - Montpellier SupAgro - Institut national d’études supérieures agronomiques de Montpellier)

  • Bryan Mccannon

    (West Virginia University [Morgantown])

Abstract

Each year about 60 million people flee their home country and seek to cross into developed countries, thus urging the latter to develop different policy responses to face the growing concerns about how immigration may affect social order. We design a novel two-part public goods experiment with radical income asymmetry between groups to investigate how voting on (not) helping less-endowed others affects pro-social behavior in the voting groups. We find that no group ever votes to help less-endowed ones. This, in turn, results in a breakdown of prosociality within the voting groups. We study the reasons why the implementation of voting—compared to no voting or to imposed solidarity—results in a significant, negative impact on cooperation levels within the voting groups.

Suggested Citation

  • Rustam Romaniuc & Gregory Deangelo & Dimitri Dubois & Bryan Mccannon, 2019. "Intergroup inequality and the breakdown of prosociality," Post-Print halshs-02188821, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-02188821
    DOI: 10.1007/s10101-019-00226-2
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