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Gender differences in the giving and taking variants of the dictator game

Author

Listed:
  • Subhasish M. Chowdhury

    (University of East Anglia)

  • Joo Young Jeon

    (University of East Anglia)

  • Bibhas Saha

    (Durham University)

Abstract

We run a between-subject dictator game with 'give' and 'take' frames involving a balanced pool of male and female dictators. Complying with the existing literature we find no overall difference in the amount allocated to the recipient across the treatments. However, this is only an illusion of the aggregate. Females allocate significantly more under the taking frame compared to the giving frame whereas males show exactly the opposite behavior – nullifying the overall effect. This occurs since a taking frame makes males significantly more selfish and females significantly more egalitarian compared to a giving frame.

Suggested Citation

  • Subhasish M. Chowdhury & Joo Young Jeon & Bibhas Saha, 2016. "Gender differences in the giving and taking variants of the dictator game," Working Paper series, University of East Anglia, Centre for Behavioural and Experimental Social Science (CBESS) 14-09R, School of Economics, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK..
    • Handle: RePEc:uea:wcbess:14-09
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    Cited by:

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    2. Subhasish M Chowdhury & Philip J Grossman & Joo Young Jeon, 2020. "Gender differences in giving and the anticipation regarding giving in dictator games," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 72(3), pages 772-779.
    3. Marius Alt & Carlo Gallier & Achim Schlüter & Katherine Nelson & Eva Anggraini, 2018. "Giving to versus Taking from In- and Out-Group Members," Games, MDPI, vol. 9(3), pages 1-14, August.
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    5. Chowdhury, Subhasish M. & Jeon, Joo Young & Saha, Bibhas, 2023. "Eye-image as nonverbal social cue has asymmetric gender effects in dictator taking games," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 107(C).
    6. Kinnl, Klara & Möller, Jakob & Walter, Anna, 2023. "Borrowed Plumes:," Department of Economics Working Paper Series 345, WU Vienna University of Economics and Business.
    7. Lange, Andreas & Miniesy, Rania & Nicklisch, Andreas & Rabie, Dina & Bock, Olaf & Ross, Johannes, 2023. "Sharing norms and negotiations across cultures: Experimental interactions within and between Egypt and Germany," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 210(C), pages 412-440.
    8. Klara Kinnl & Jakob Möller & Anna Walter, 2023. "The Gender Gap in Claiming Credit for Teamwork," Department of Economics Working Papers wuwp345, Vienna University of Economics and Business, Department of Economics.
    9. Faillo, Marco & Rizzolli, Matteo & Tontrup, Stephan, 2019. "Thou shalt not steal: Taking aversion with legal property claims," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 88-101.
    10. García-Gallego, Aurora & Georgantzis, Nikolaos & Ruiz-Martos, María J., 2019. "The Heaven Dictator Game: Costless taking or giving," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    11. Grossman, Philip J. & Eckel, Catherine C., 2015. "Giving versus taking for a cause," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 28-30.
    12. Subhasish M. Chowdhury & Joo Young Jeon & Bibhas Saha, 2014. "Eye-image in Experiments: Social Cue or Experimenter Demand Effect?," University of East Anglia Applied and Financial Economics Working Paper Series 067, School of Economics, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK..
    13. Subhasish M. Chowdhury & Joo Young Jeon & Abhijit Ramalingam, 2018. "Property Rights And Loss Aversion In Contests," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 56(3), pages 1492-1511, July.
    14. Peter Dolton & Richard S.J. Tol, 2019. "Correlates of Social Value Orientation: Evidence from a Large Sample of the UK Population," Working Paper Series 0119, Department of Economics, University of Sussex Business School.
    15. Valerio Capraro & Roberto Di Paolo & Veronica Pizziol, 2023. "Assessing Large Language Models' ability to predict how humans balance self-interest and the interest of others," Papers 2307.12776, arXiv.org, revised Feb 2024.
    16. Aleksandra Staniszewska & Monika Czerwonka & Krzysztof Kompa, 2020. "Rational Behavior of Dictators - Evidence on Gender and Religiosity," International Advances in Economic Research, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 26(3), pages 289-301, August.
    17. repec:cup:judgdm:v:13:y:2018:i:1:p:99-111 is not listed on IDEAS
    18. Craig A. Depken & Adam J. Hoffer & Abdul H. Kidwai, 2022. "An artefactual field experiment of group discrimination between sports fans," Economics of Governance, Springer, vol. 23(3), pages 411-432, December.
    19. Niklas Ziemann, 2022. "You will receive your money next week! Experimental evidence on the role of Future-Time Reference for intertemporal decision-making," CEPA Discussion Papers 56, Center for Economic Policy Analysis.
    20. Valerio Capraro & David G. Rand, 2018. "Do the Right Thing: Experimental evidence that preferences for moral behavior, rather than equity or efficiency per se, drive human prosociality," Judgment and Decision Making, Society for Judgment and Decision Making, vol. 13(1), pages 99-111, January.
    21. Thunström, Linda, 2019. "Preferences for fairness over losses," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    22. Halladay, Brianna & Landsman, Rachel, 2024. "Shame on me: Emotions and gender differences in taking with earned endowments," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 111(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    altruism; dictator game; taking game; framing; gender;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C91 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Individual Behavior
    • D64 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Altruism; Philanthropy; Intergenerational Transfers
    • D84 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Expectations; Speculations
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination

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