Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/75722 
Year of Publication: 
2001
Series/Report no.: 
CESifo Working Paper No. 496
Publisher: 
Center for Economic Studies and ifo Institute (CESifo), Munich
Abstract: 
Recent evidence highlights the importance of social norms in many economic relations. However, many of these relationships are long-term and provide repeated game incentives for performance. We experimentally investigate interaction effects of reciprocity and repeated game incentives in two treatments (one-shot and repeated) of a gift-exchange game. In both treatments we observe reciprocity, which is strengthened in the repeated game. A detailed analysis shows that in the repeated game some subjects imitate reciprocity. Thus, reciprocity and repeated game incentives reinforce each other. Observed behaviour is robust against experience. We conclude that a long-term interaction is a reciprocity-compatible contract enforcement device.
Subjects: 
Reciprocity
reputation
repeated games
incomplete contracts
Document Type: 
Working Paper
Appears in Collections:

Files in This Item:
File
Size





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.