The Review of Economics and Statistics Vol. 92 No. 1 2010
Friend or Foe? Cooperation and Learning in High-Stakes Games
Abstract
Why do people frequently cooperate in defiance of their immediate incentives? One explanation is that individuals are conditionally cooperative. As an explanation of behavior in one-shot settings, such preferences require individuals to be able to discern their opponents' preferences. Using data from a television game show, we provide evidence about how individuals implement conditionally cooperative preferences. We show that contestants forgo large sums of money to be cooperative; they cooperate at heightened levels when their opponents are predictably cooperative; and they fare worse when their observable characteristics predict less cooperation because opponents avoid cooperating with them.
- DOI
- 10.1162/rest.2009.10174
- Volume
- 92
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 179-187
- Language
- en
- Sources
- openalex crossref