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http://hdl.handle.net/10419/49653
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| Title: | | The appearance of homo rivalis: Social preferences and the nature of rent seeking  |
| Authors: | | Herrmann , Benedikt Orzen, Henrik |
| Issue Date: | | 2008 |
| Series/Report no.: | | CeDEx discussion paper series 2008-10 |
| Abstract: | | While numerous experiments demonstrate how pro-sociality can influence economic decision-making, evidence on explicitly anti-social economic behavior has thus far been limited. In this paper we investigate the importance of spite in experimental rent-seeking contests. Although, as we show, existing evidence of excessive rent-seeking is in theory compatible with fairness considerations, our social preference elicitations reveal that subjects' investments are driven by spite, not fairness or reciprocity. We also observe a striking disconnect between individuals' revealed social preferences in our contest game and in a standard prisoner's dilemma, rejecting the idea that there are consistent pro-social, selfish or anti-social 'types'. Moreover, we find that cooperation and reciprocity rates drop substantially after subjects have been exposed to rent-seeking competition. |
| Subjects: | | contests other-regarding preferences experiments |
| JEL: | | A13 C9 D0 D72 |
| Document Type: | | Working Paper |
| Appears in Collections: | | CeDEx Discussion Paper Series, The University of Nottingham
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