The external validity of giving in the dictator game

We investigate the external validity of giving in the dictator game by using the misdirected letter technique in a within-subject design. First, subjects participated in standard dictator games (double blind) conducted in labs in two different studies. Second, after four to five weeks (study 1) or two years (study 2), we delivered prepared letters to the same subjects. The envelopes and the contents of the letters were designed to create the impression that they were misdirected by the mail delivery service. The letters contained 10 Euros (20 Swiss Francs in study 2) corresponding to the endowment of the in-lab experiments. We observe in both studies that subjects who showed other-regarding behavior in the lab returned the misdirected letters more often than subjects giving nothing, suggesting that in-lab behavior is related to behavior in the field.

[1]  Hans-Theo Normann,et al.  A Within-Subject Analysis of Other-Regarding Preferences , 2010, Games Econ. Behav..

[2]  Todd L. Cherry,et al.  Hardnose the Dictator , 2002 .

[3]  Leon Mann,et al.  THE LOST-LETTER TECHNIQUE: A TOOL OF SOCIAL RESEARCH , 1965 .

[4]  Steven D. Levitt,et al.  What Do Laboratory Experiments Measuring Social Preferences Reveal About the Real World , 2007 .

[5]  J. Andreoni.  Social Image and the 50-50 Norm: A Theoretical and Experimental Analysis of Audience Effects , 2009 .

[6]  J. Kremer,et al.  The Misdirected Letter and the Quasi‐Questionnaire: Unobtrusive Measures of Prejudice in Northern Ireland , 1986 .

[7]  B. Frey,et al.  Pro-social behavior in a natural setting , 2004 .

[8]  V. Smith,et al.  Social distance and other-regarding behavior in dictator games , 2000 .

[9]  D. Marlowe,et al.  A new scale of social desirability independent of psychopathology. , 1960, Journal of consulting psychology.

[10]  Leonard Bickman,et al.  Applied social psychology annual , 1980 .

[11]  Florian Englmaier,et al.  Free-Riding in the Lab and in the Field , 2011, SSRN Electronic Journal.

[12]  J. List.  On the Interpretation of Giving in Dictator Games , 2007, Journal of Political Economy.

[13]  N. Bardsley.  Dictator game giving: altruism or artefact? , 2008 .

[14]  Colin Camerer.  Behavioral Game Theory: Experiments in Strategic Interaction , 2003 .

[15]  D. Wilson,et al.  Human prosociality from an evolutionary perspective: variation and correlations at a city-wide scale ☆ , 2009 .

[16]  C B MERRITT,et al.  The pecuniary honesty of the public at large. , 1948, Journal of abnormal psychology.

[17]  J. Stoop.  From the lab to the field: envelopes, dictators and manners , 2013, Experimental Economics.

[18]  A Within-Subject Analysis of Other-Regarding Preferences , 2010 .

[19]  D. Howitt,et al.  Attitudes do predict behaviour — In mails at least , 1978 .

[20]  M. Gurven,et al.  Collective Action in Action: Prosocial Behavior in and out of the Laboratory , 2008 .

[21]  Jeffrey P. Carpenter,et al.  Why volunteer? Evidence on the role of altruism, image, and incentives , 2010 .

[22]  G. Harrison,et al.  Field experiments , 1924, The Journal of Agricultural Science.

[23]  Axel Franzen,et al.  Anonymity in the Dictator Game Revisited , 2012 .

[24]  John A. List,et al.  Why Economists Should Conduct Field Experiments and 14 Tips for Pulling One Off , 2011 .

[25]  Stephan Meier,et al.  Do People Behave in Experiments as in the Field? Evidence from Donations , 2006 .

[26]  Dean S. Karlan,et al.  Using Experimental Economics to Measure Social Capital and Predict Financial Decisions , 2005 .

[27]  Steven D. Levitt,et al.  FIELD EXPERIMENTS IN ECONOMICS : THE PAST , THE PRESENT , AND THE FUTURE , 2008 .

[28]  V. Smith,et al.  Social Distance and Other-Regarding Behavior in Dictator Games: Reply , 1999 .

[29]  Roberto A. Weber,et al.  Exploiting moral wiggle room: experiments demonstrating an illusory preference for fairness , 2007 .

[30]  A. Barr,et al.  Dictator games in the lab and in nature: External validity tested and investigated in Ugandan primary schools , 2010 .

[31]  Christoph Engel,et al.  Dictator games: a meta study , 2010 .

[32]  F. S. Bridges,et al.  Homeless Affiliation, Location, and Sender Address in Return of Lost Letters , 2001 .

[33]  Colin F. Camerer,et al.  The Promise and Success of Lab-Field Generalizability in Experimental Economics: A Critical Reply to Levitt and List , 2011 .

[34]  Paola Sapienza,et al.  Can We Infer Social Preferences from the Lab? Evidence from the Trust Game , 2010 .