Do cultures clash? Evidence from cross-national ultimatum game experiments

Abstract

Economic globalisation promotes the interaction between individuals of different cultures. While experimental economists have established differences in the way individuals from different nations interact within their own cultures, behavioural differences in cross-cultural interactions have not been sufficiently explored. This paper reports the results of ultimatum game experiments in which Malaysian Chinese and UK subjects played opponents of their own as well as of the other culture. We confirm the existence of cultural difference in subject behaviour in both intra- and inter-national interactions. This evidence is discussed in terms of the possibility of a ‘clash of cultures’.