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The Effect of Group Identity on Distributive Choice: Social Preference or Heuristic?

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  • Francesco GUALA
  • Antonio FILIPPIN

Abstract

Group identity can influence significantly people’s attitudes toward monetary allocations. In this paper we reassess the representation of group identity using social preference models. First, we show that the influence of group identity varies unsystematically across different types of mini-dictator’s games and cannot be described using a well-behaved preference function. Second, we demonstrate that the effect is not robust to slightly increasing the complexity of the task, suggesting that group identity is a framing effect that can be easily displaced by alternative decision heuristics.

Suggested Citation

  • Francesco GUALA & Antonio FILIPPIN, 2013. "The Effect of Group Identity on Distributive Choice: Social Preference or Heuristic?," Departmental Working Papers 2013-19, Department of Economics, Management and Quantitative Methods at Università degli Studi di Milano.
    • Handle: RePEc:mil:wpdepa:2013-19
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    2. Kettle, Stewart & Hernandez, Marco & Sanders, Michael & Hauser, Oliver & Ruda, Simon, 2017. "Failure to CAPTCHA Attention: Null Results from an Honesty Priming Experiment in Guatemala," Scholarly Articles 33490945, Harvard Kennedy School of Government.
    3. Benistant, Julien & Villeval, Marie Claire, 2019. "Unethical behavior and group identity in contests," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 128-155.
    4. Müller, Daniel, 2019. "The anatomy of distributional preferences with group identity," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 166(C), pages 785-807.
    5. Lotti, Lorenzo, 2020. "Generosity during Covid-19 the effect of social distancing and framing on donations in dictator games," MPRA Paper 102144, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Gabriele Chierchia & Fabio Tufano & Giorgio Coricelli, 2020. "The differential impact of friendship on cooperative and competitive coordination," Theory and Decision, Springer, vol. 89(4), pages 423-452, November.
    7. Lotti, Lorenzo, 2020. "Generosity during Covid-19 the effect of social distancing and framing on donations in dictator games," MPRA Paper 103826, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Fait, Larissa & Groh, Elke D. & Wetzel, Heike, 2022. "“I take the green one”: The choice of regional green electricity contracts in the light of regional and environmental identity," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    9. Wenbo Zou & Xue Xu, 2023. "Ingroup bias in a social learning experiment," Experimental Economics, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 26(1), pages 27-54, March.
    10. Florian Hett & Markus Kröll & Mario Mechtel, 2019. "Choosing Who You Are: The Structure and Behavioral Effects of Revealed Identification Preferences," Working Papers 1903, Gutenberg School of Management and Economics, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz.
    11. Fuhai Hong & Yohanes E. Riyanto & Ruike Zhang, 2022. "Multidimensional social identity and redistributive preferences: an experimental study," Theory and Decision, Springer, vol. 93(1), pages 151-184, July.
    12. Wang, Yizi, 2023. "Intergroup competition, group status, and individuals’ cooperation behavior: Evidence from a laboratory experiment," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 56(C).
    13. Lorenzo Lotti & Shanali Pethiyagoda, 2022. "Generosity during COVID-19: investigating socioeconomic shocks and game framing," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 9(1), pages 1-10, December.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Identity; groups; dictator’s game; social preferences;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C91 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Individual Behavior
    • D03 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Behavioral Microeconomics: Underlying Principles
    • D30 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - General

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