American Economic Review Vol. 104 No. 6 2014

Evolutionary Origins of the Endowment Effect: Evidence from Hunter-Gatherers

Coren L. Apicella¹; Eduardo M. Azevedo²; Nicholas A. Christakis³; James H. Fowler⁴

¹ Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, 3720 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6241 (e-mail: ) · ² The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, 3620 Locust Walk, SHDH 1455, Philadelphia, PA 19104 (e-mail: ) · ³ Departments of Sociology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and Medicine, Yale University, Yale Institute for Network Science, PO Box 208263, New Haven, CT 06520-8263 (e-mail: ) · ⁴ Political Science Department and Medical Genetics Department, University of California, San Diego, Social Science Building 392, 9500 Gilman Drive #0521, La Jolla, CA 92093-0521 (e-mail: )

Abstract

The endowment effect, the tendency to value possessions more than non-possessions, is a well-known departure from rational choice and has been replicated in numerous settings. We investigate the universality of the endowment effect, its evolutionary significance, and its dependence on environmental factors. We experimentally test for the endowment effect in an isolated and evolutionarily relevant population of hunter-gatherers, the Hadza Bushmen of Northern Tanzania. We find that Hadza living in isolated regions do not display the endowment effect, while Hadza living in a geographic region with increased exposure to modern society and markets do display the endowment effect.

DOI

10.1257/aer.104.6.1793

Volume

104

Issue

6

Pages

1793-1805

Language

en

Sources

bibtex:phds-export.bib openalex crossref

Cite

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