Social norm and giving with indivisibility of money : an experiment on selfishness, equity, and generosity

• Main Authors: Bao, Te, Yu, Xiaohua
• Other Authors: School of Social Sciences
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2020
• Subjects: Social sciences::Economic theory; Dictator Game; Divisibility of Money
• Online Access: https://www.mohrsiebeck.com/en/article/social-norm-and-giving-with-indivisibility-of-money-an-experiment-on-selfishness-equity-and-generosity-101628jite-2019-0020; https://hdl.handle.net/10356/142773
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

We study a dictator game considering selfishness, equity, and generosity. The dictators first indicate their willingness to give on a decision form and then allocate 10 yuan cash to the receiver in an envelope. The cash consists of 10 banknotes of 1 yuan in treatment 1 (high divisibility) and 2 banknotes of 5 yuan in treatment 2 (low divisibility). Treatment 2 only has three choices of giving.0;5;10/. 30% of individuals take ceilings or floors rather than the standard rounding in treatment 2. However, the individual roundup and rounddown behaviors cancel each other at the aggregate level.