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Men among men do not take norm enforcement seriously

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  • Boschini, Anne
  • Muren, Astri
  • Persson, Mats

Abstract

While there is ample evidence of a society-wide cooperation norm, it is not as clear who upholds this norm. In the present paper, we investigate whether there are gender differences with respect to norm enforcement. We let 1403 subjects play games of punishment and reward, individually or in groups with varying gender composition. Broadly, the results indicate that there are no clear gender differences: men are about as inclined as women to punish norm-breakers. However, behavior is context-dependent: men acting among other men are less inclined to uphold a cooperation norm than are women, or men in gender-mixed groups.

Suggested Citation

  • Boschini, Anne & Muren, Astri & Persson, Mats, 2011. "Men among men do not take norm enforcement seriously," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 40(5), pages 523-529.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:soceco:v:40:y:2011:i:5:p:523-529
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socec.2011.04.001
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    Cited by:

    1. Boschini, Anne & Muren, Astri & Persson, Mats, 2012. "Constructing gender differences in the economics lab," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 84(3), pages 741-752.
    2. Juan-Camilo Cárdenas & Anna Dreber & Emma von Essen & Eva Ranehill, 2014. "Gender and Cooperation in Children: Experiments in Colombia and Sweden," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(3), pages 1-7, March.
    3. Boschini, Anne & Muren, Astri & Persson, Mats, 2013. "The Social Egoist," Research Papers in Economics 2013:14, Stockholm University, Department of Economics.
    4. Steffen Keck & Wenjie Tang, 2018. "Gender Composition and Group Confidence Judgment: The Perils of All-Male Groups," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 64(12), pages 5877-5898, December.
    5. Paul M. Gorny & Petra Nieken & Karoline Ströhlein, 2023. "The Effects of Gendered Language on Norm Compliance," CESifo Working Paper Series 10459, CESifo.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Cooperation; Gender; Social norms; Punishment; Group decisions; Sequential prisoner's dilemma;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C91 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Individual Behavior
    • C92 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Group Behavior
    • D69 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Other
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination

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