Dictator Games: A Meta Study

Christoph Engel
2010 Social Science Research Network  
Over the last 25 years, more than a hundred dictator game experiments have been published. This meta study summarizes the evidence. Exploiting the fact that most experiments had to fix parameters they did not intend to test, in multiple regression the meta study is able to assess the effect of single manipulations, controlling for a host of alternative explanatory factors. The resulting rich dataset also provides a testbed for comparing alternative specifications of the statistical model for
more » ... lysing dictator game data. It shows how Tobit models (assuming that dictators would even want to take money) and hurdle models (assuming that the decision to give a positive amount is separate from the choice of amount, conditional on giving) provide additional insights. JEL: C24, C91, D03 1 For detail, see the list of papers used for the meta study in Appendix 1.
doi:10.2139/ssrn.1568732 fatcat:biqmzshcovbjzjerb7s7ya6h2m