Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/26596 
Year of Publication: 
2009
Series/Report no.: 
CESifo Working Paper No. 2551
Publisher: 
Center for Economic Studies and ifo Institute (CESifo), Munich
Abstract: 
The sinking of the Titanic in April 1912 took the lives of 68 percent of the people aboard. Who survived? It was women and children who had a higher probability of being saved, not men. Likewise, people traveling in first class had a better chance of survival than those in second and third class. British passengers were more likely to perish than members of other nations. This extreme event represents a rare case of a well-documented life and death situation where social norms were enforced. This paper shows that economic analysis can account for human behavior in such situations.
Subjects: 
Decision under pressure
tragic events and disasters
survival
quasi-natural experiment
altruism
JEL: 
D63
D64
D71
D81
Document Type: 
Working Paper
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