Homo Reciprocans Research Articles

THE 'RECIPROCITY' GAME: A THEORETICAL BASIS FOR MEASURING RECIPROCITY IN HUMAN SOCIO-ECONOMIC INTERACTIONS

The Theory of Expected Utility is the central theory that describes the way individuals make a decision according to the classical economic theory. Despite the fact of that, experimental studies on individuals' behavioral attitude of the last 20 years have shown that this theory does not accurately represent human behavior from a descriptive point of view. On the contrary, these studies bear out that reciprocity is the motivational drive of human decisions. People have a reciprocal behavior if they praise and repay good deeds and punish unkind ones. On the other hand, they are rational if they make every effort to maximize the benefit and their utility. In this review paper, we present a theoretical framework of reciprocity's measuring through the experimental economics. In particular, we propose an experimental way of identifying the incentives under which the subjects make a decision. Are they motivated by other people's well-being or by material self-interest? For achieving this, Homo Economicus and Homo Reciprocans ''conflict'' amid two different games of Game Theory. These games (Ultimatum Game and Dictator Game) create a new one, which is called ''The Reciprocity Game'' and it is going to offer us an important theoretical basis for the empirical measurement of human reciprocity in the future.

Non-Legal Insight for Optimal Norm Design – Exploring the Chain Between Norm Setting and Compliance

A simplified relationship between setting of a norm and an individual's compliance can be characterized by three distinct stages: norm comprehension and processing; the deliberate compliance decision of the individual; and non-deliberate decision-making. On each stage, there is insight from social sciences, experimental psychology and behavioural law and economics making different predictions about individual compliance behaviour. We study the implications of extra-juridical insight as well as normative constitutional requirements on the optimal design of norms. We find considerable variance in norm designs for improving compliance depending on the respective empirical insight. Regarding norm comprehension, there is ambiguity in the relationship between individual's limited cognitive processing capacity and the constitutional law imperative for norm specificity. The stage of deliberate decision-making relates to the rationality model of human behaviour allowing for economic, reciprocal, communicative human dispositions, each of which requires different law designs to induce individual's compliance. Homo oeconomicus responds to law design using costs as steering tool. Homo reciprocans can be directed through decentralized self-regulation, governance of small political units and belief management. And compliance of homo communicans can be induced when procedures are perceived as being fair and inclusive. Finally, the existence of non-deliberate decision-making may justify paternalistic legal measures. The findings may inform lawmakers in how to design and draft laws to optimize norm compliance.

When and why do young people tend to cooperate?

The study explored young people’s tendency for cooperation in different social conditions and explanations of behaviour given by them. Cooperation seems to be an important part of citizenship behaviour. Here, it is defined as a tendency to maximize common payoff. According to the Homo economicus theory, people are egoistic entities and should make rational decisions based on maximizing personal payoffs. According to the conception of Homo reciprocans, people tend to be cooperative only if their perceive partners’ behaviour as fair. In the context of contemporary research, both of these theories over-simplify behaviour, since tendency to cooperate depends on differences in culture and economic development, as well as on situational rules. In the present study, the Ultimatum Game was conducted to explore students’ cooperative behaviour (accepting proposals) as a response to Selfish, Equal or Altruistic offers in three conditions – ‘face to face’, ‘town to town’ (long distance, with a partner from another town) or ‘country to country’ (with a partner from another country). This modification of standard experiment procedure was unique and allowed to examine the role of situational context. Altogether 1013 students (aged 9–19) from Poland, Spain and the United Kingdom participated in the game as acceptors. Their cooperative behaviour depended on offers made by partners. However, the patterns were moderated by game conditions: young people tended to cooperate mostly in response to equal offers and in the ‘face-to-face’ condition and to punish (not cooperate) partners with the same nationality (‘face-to-face’ or ‘town-to-town’ condition) for Selfish offers and foreigners (‘country to country’ condition) for Altruistic offers.

Private Goods, Public Goods, and Common Pools with Homo Reciprocans

Familiar inefficiencies arise with competing interests over private goods in Stackelberg and investment games. Private good experiments reveal whether reciprocity enhances cooperative outcomes. Familiar social dilemmas arise with voluntary provision of public goods and voluntary appropriation from common pools. Experiments with pairs of payoff‐equivalent provision and appropriation games reveal whether reciprocity is more or less effective in ameliorating under‐provision or over‐appropriation. Experiments with asymmetric provision and appropriation games also yield insight into the effects of the Indian caste system on inefficiency from social dilemmas. Experiments with three types of games, with a private good, public good or common pool, provide diagnostic tests of the homo reciprocans model.

A New Economic Perspective on Victims of Crime: Homo Reciprocans

A New Economic Perspective on Victims of Crime: Homo Reciprocans

Homo Reciprocans: Survey Evidence on Behavioural Outcomes

This article complements the experimental literature that has shown the importance of reciprocity for behaviour in stylised labour markets or other decision settings. We use individual measures of reciprocal inclinations in a large, representative survey and relate reciprocity to real world labour market behaviour and life outcomes. We find that reciprocity matters and that the way in which it matters is very much in line with the experimental evidence. In particular, positive reciprocity is associated with receiving higher wages and working harder. Negatively reciprocal inclinations tend to reduce effort. Negative reciprocity increases the likelihood of being unemployed.

Homo Reciprocans: Survey Evidence on Prevalence, Behavior and Success

Experimental evidence has convincingly shown the existence of reciprocal inclinations, i.e., a tendency for people to respond in-kind to hostile or kind actions. Little is known, however, about: (i) the prevalence of reciprocity in the population, (ii) individual determinants of reciprocity, (iii) the correlation between positive and negative inclinations within person, and (iv) consequences of reciprocal inclinations for wages, subjective well-being, friendships and other economic and social outcomes. Answering these questions requires moving out of the lab and using a large and representative subject pool, which combines information about subjects’ reciprocal inclinations with extensive socioeconomic background information. In this paper we measure the reciprocal inclinations of 21,000 individuals. We show that most people state reciprocal inclinations, in particular in terms of positive reciprocity. However, there is substantial heterogeneity in the degree of reciprocity, and quite surprisingly, only a weak correlation between positive and negative reciprocity for an individual. In terms of determinants, being female, and increasing age, lead to greater positive and less negatively reciprocal tendencies. Taller people are more positively reciprocal, but height has no impact on negative reciprocity. The asymmetric impact of these determinants provides further indication that positive and negative reciprocity are fundamentally different traits, rather than the outcome of a single underlying tendency. In terms of economic implications, we provide the first evidence using a large representative survey that corroborates an important hypothesis arising from laboratory experiments: Positively reciprocal workers are in fact paid more, and exert greater effort, on the job. Moreover, positively reciprocal people are more likely to be employed, report having more close friends, and have a higher overall level of life satisfaction. In this sense, Homo Reciprocans – in the positive domain – is in fact more successful than his or her non-reciprocal fellows.

Reciprocity and economics: The economic implications of Homo Reciprocans

A large number of studies suggest that reciprocity constitutes a basic motivational drive. This paper shows that reciprocity can account for a wide range of empirical phenomena: It (1) is a powerful effort elicitation device, (2) explains why employers refuse to hire underbidders and, hence, why wages are downwardly rigid, (3) gives rise to non-compensating wage differentials and to a positive correlation between profits and wages, (4) provides a rationale for the absence of explicit financial incentives, and (5) is a key force that sustains social norms.