What's in a name? Racial identity and altruism in post-apartheid South Africa

Journal Article

2008

Permanent link to this Item
Authors
Journal Title

South African Journal of Economics

Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Publisher

University of Cape Town

License
Series
Abstract
This paper reports the results of an economic experiment which was designed to test the effect of racial identity on generosity in a non-strategic setting. A sample of undergraduate university students was recruited to participate in a dictator game, where surnames of individuals were revealed to convey information about racial identity. Results indicate that compared to a set of control experiments where participant identity was kept anonymous, revealing racial identity has a significant and positive impact on the size of the offers made. However, while Black participants did not vary their offers based on the racial identity of their partners, White participants were more generous towards White partners than Black partners, exhibiting insider favouritism in their offers.
Description

Reference:

Collections