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Does exposure to violence affect reciprocity? Experimental evidence from the West Bank

Author

Listed:
  • Elisa Cavatorta

    (Department of Political Economy, King's College London, United Kingdom)

  • Daniel John Zizzo

    (School of Economics, University of Queensland)

  • Yousef Daoud

    (Doha Institute for Graduate Studies and Birzeit University)

Abstract

This paper studies how reciprocity is affected by exposure to political violence in early age. We combine a research design that isolates the exogenous exposure to violence with a lab-in-the-field experiment to study how reciprocity in the forms of conditional cooperation and vindictive behavior in adolescents varies as a result of exposure to violence. We focus on young Palestinians in the West Bank region of the Palestinian territories. We find that exposure to violence affects reciprocity of Palestinian adolescents: those more exposed to violence engage in more reciprocal behavior in both the domain of cooperation and that of aggression. Part of the effect is explained by changes in the beliefs about their peers' behavior.

Suggested Citation

  • Elisa Cavatorta & Daniel John Zizzo & Yousef Daoud, 2020. "Does exposure to violence affect reciprocity? Experimental evidence from the West Bank," Discussion Papers Series 614, School of Economics, University of Queensland, Australia.
    • Handle: RePEc:qld:uq2004:614
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    File URL: https://economics.uq.edu.au/files/17548/614.pdf
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    Cited by:

    1. Cristiano Codagnone & Francesco Bogliacino & Camilo Gómez & Frans Folkvord & Giovanni Liva & Rafael Charris & Felipe Montealegre & Francisco Lupiañez Villanueva & Giuseppe A. Veltri, 2021. "Restarting “Normal” Life after Covid-19 and the Lockdown: Evidence from Spain, the United Kingdom, and Italy," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 158(1), pages 241-265, November.
    2. Francesco Bogliacino & Camilo G�mez & Gianluca Grimalda, 2019. "Crime-related Exposure to Violence and Social Preferences: Experimental Evidence from Bogotá," Documentos de Trabajo, Escuela de Economía 17345, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, FCE, CID.
    3. Kai Barron & Heike Harmgart & Steffen Huck & Sebastian O. Schneider & Matthias Sutter, 2023. "Discrimination, Narratives, and Family History: An Experiment with Jordanian Host and Syrian Refugee Children," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 105(4), pages 1008-1016, July.
    4. Horn, Dániel & Kiss, Hubert János & Lénárd, Tünde, 2022. "Gender differences in preferences of adolescents: Evidence from a large-scale classroom experiment," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 194(C), pages 478-522.
    5. Alexandros Karakostas & Nhu Tran & Daniel John Zizzo, 2022. "Experimental Insights on Anti-Social Behavior: Two Meta-Analyses," Discussion Papers Series 658, School of Economics, University of Queensland, Australia.
    6. Restrepo-Plaza, Lina & Fatas, Enrique, 2022. "When ingroup favoritism is not the social norm a lab-in-the-field experiment with victims and non-victims of conflict in Colombia," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 194(C), pages 363-383.

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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • C72 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Noncooperative Games
    • C91 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Individual Behavior
    • D91 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making
    • I25 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Economic Development

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