ONLINE: Rachel Kranton: Competition, Cooperation, and Social Perceptions

Seminar
This event has now finished.
  • Date and time: Wednesday 22 January 2025, 1pm to 2pm
  • Location: Online only
  • Audience: Open to staff, students
  • Admission: Free admission, booking not required

Event details

Author: Rachel Kranton (Duke)

Abstract:  How do people come to think of themselves as having more or less in common with others? Much theoretical, empirical and experimental research shows that perceived social differences affect economic decisions and outcomes. This experiment reverses the causal arrow and asks if social perceptions can have economic origins. We find that subjects who compete against counterparts for pay report fewer common traits with counterparts than do subjects facing a cooperative pay scheme. This effect emerges despite monetary incentives for accuracy. A more subjective assessment of similarity is dominated by shared political leanings, with no effect of the pay-scheme treatments. 

Co-author:  Jeanne Hagenbach (CNRS and Sciences Po Pari)

Host:  James Choy (York)