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Gender Differences in Prisoners' Dilemma

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Abstract

Charles Darwin (1874) stated that "women are less selfish but men are more competitive". Very recent papers (Eckel & Grossman, 1998, 2001 or Andreoni & Vesterlund 2001, among others) have shown the relevance of gender in altruism in both ultimatum and dictator games. In this paper we analyse the role of gender in one-shot Prisoners' Dilemma. We use payments cards to reveal players' values of the game, what gives information about players' beliefs on rival's cooperativeness. Surprisingly 15% of population choose the cooperative action although the gender effect is quite ambiguous in actions. Within those players who choose the cooperative action, females do so believing her rival will defect.

Suggested Citation

  • Pablo Brañas Garza & Antonio Morales, 2003. "Gender Differences in Prisoners' Dilemma," Economic Working Papers at Centro de Estudios Andaluces E2003/19, Centro de Estudios Andaluces.
    • Handle: RePEc:cea:doctra:e2003_19
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Pedro Rey Biel, 2005. "Equilibrium PLay and Best Response to (Stated) Beliefs in Constant Sum Games," Experimental 0506003, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Prisoners' Dilemma; cooperation; payment cards; expected utility theory; beliefs; gender differences.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C72 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Noncooperative Games
    • C92 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Group Behavior
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination

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