Tuesday lunch seminar: Sigve Tjøtta
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Sigve Tjøtta will be giving the following talk during our lunch seminar: "It Pays to be Nice: The Strategic Benefits of a Predisposition to Cooperate"
Abstract:
Does it pay to be nice? This paper shows that a predisposition to cooperate may be a strategic advantage. In a two-step experiment, we first measure individual motivations and then randomly expose these types to a repeated continuous Prisoner's Dilemma game featuring either random matching or partner choice. Under random matching, cooperators earn less than selfish types. However, when partner choice is possible, cooperators systematically outperform others. Partner choice seems to function as a punishment device, excluding free riders from the game. We believe our findings shed light on why some individuals are intrinsically motivated to cooperate, even when there are no material incentives to do so.
A light lunch will be served.
