goodenomics™

The evidence

The ultimatum game: would you refuse an unfair offer?

Someone else splits a sum between the two of you. You can take what they offer, or refuse, and then neither of you gets anything. Refusing an unfair offer costs you, and many people do it anyway.

A scene from The Distribution, the journey where the game asks this question.
A scene from the game, as it is drawn: one handwritten line at a time.

The ultimatum game

A purely self-interested responder takes any offer above nothing, since refusing leaves both with nothing. Many people refuse an offer they judge unfair, and pay for it.

What the study found

Across 75 results from 37 papers, proposers offered 40% of the money on average, and 16% of all offers were refused. In a review of the early experiments, Camerer and Thaler reported that offers below 20% are frequently rejected.

Source: Oosterbeek, H., Sloof, R., & van de Kuilen, G. (2004). Cultural differences in ultimatum game experiments: Evidence from a meta-analysis. Experimental Economics 7(2), 171-188. econpapers.repec.org/RePEc:kap:expeco:v:7:y:2004:i:2:p:171-188

How to read this

These are the answers of particular people, asked in a particular way, at a particular time. A share of people is not a verdict: it tells you what they answered, not what is right.

Where the game asks it

The Distribution (What does fairness require?). The game’s versions with family, age, consent and combined pressures are new comparisons written for it. They are not copies of the experiments, and no population percentages are claimed for them.

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