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Trhal & Radermacher on Gift Giving & Self-Inflicted Neediness

By Lawrence Solum

Nadja Trhal and Ralf Radermacher (University of Cologne and Micro Insurance Academy) have posted Bad Luck vs. Self-Inflicted Neediness - An Experimental Investigation of Gift Giving in a Solidarity Game (Journal of Economic Psychology, Vol. 30, 2009) on SSRN. Here is the abstract:

We experimentally examine the impact of self-inflicted neediness on the solidarity behavior of subjects. In one treatment in our solidarity experiment all subjects face the same probability of becoming needy, in the other treatment subjects have the choice between a secure payment and a lottery which includes a certain probability of becoming needy. Then all subjects are asked how much they will give to losers in their group to investigate if people are willing to give the same gifts whether or not subjects are responsible for inequality in payoffs. We found evidence for allocative as well as for procedural utility concerns.

Full post as published by Legal Theory Blog on December 25, 2009 (boomark / email).