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An Experimental Study of a Sequential Dictator Game With Social Interaction

by Gunter Bahr and Till Requate

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1. Experimental Design - Basic Setup

Sequential Dictator Game:

• 3 Candidates: A, B and C• Resource П = 30 Euro• Take Arbitrary Share:

ε [0,1]; ε [0,1]

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1. Experimental Design – Treatments

• Treatment 1 (Benchmark): Anonymity• (Treatment 2 and 3: Social Interaction)• Treatment 4: A Either Subject or Random

Process– B and C Do Not Know If Dice or A Decided

on First Share

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1. Experimental Design – Hypothesises

• H1: Results of Trad. Dictator Game Differ From Results Sequential Dictator Game

• H2: It Matters for B If in Treatment 1 or 4

• H3: A‘s Decision Affects B‘s Decision

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2. Results A: Traditional vs Sequential Dictator Game

• Treatment 1 vs Data by Forsythe et al, 1994 (Average Share Taken 0.66 vs 0.77)

P-Value Mann-Whitney: 0.007 Accept H1: Dictator Game Results Differ

From Sequential Dictator

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2. Results A: Human vs Random

• Treatment 1 (A: Subject) vs Treatment 4 (A: Subject or Random Process) (Average Share Taken 0.67 vs 0.70)

P-Value Mann-Whitney: 0.765

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3. Results B: Descriptive Analysis

Treatment Mean Share B Number Obs

1 0.71 44

4 - by A 0.81 28

4 - by Random 0.80 36

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4. Results B: Testing for Treatment Differences

Problem: Share A Could Affect B‘s Decision

Treatments Compared P-Value Mann-Whitney

4 by A vs 4 by Random 0.923

1 vs 4 0.017

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4. B Results

• H2: Accepted: It Does Matter for B If He/She Were in Treatment 1 or 4

• Within Treatment 4: No Differences If A Allocated Or Random Process

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4. B: Regression Analysis

Final Regression

essexp 210 LShareAShareB

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4. B: Regression Analysis – Results OLS

H3: Accepted: Reciprocity between B‘s and A‘s Decision

Variable Coefficient Stad.-Dev. Probability

Constant 0.408 0.044 0.000

Share A 0.386 0.073 0.000

Lessexp 0.107 0.028 0.003