nep-evo New Economics Papers
on Evolutionary Economics
Issue of 2023‒10‒09
two papers chosen by
Matthew Baker, City University of New York


  1. The Behavioral Mechanisms of Voluntary Cooperation across Culturally Diverse Societies: Evidence from the US, the UK, Morocco, and Turkey By Weber, Till O.; Schulz, Jonathan F.; Beranek, Benjamin; Lambarraa-Lehnhardt, Fatima; Gächter, Simon
  2. The effects of the rhetorical charisma signal and voice pitch in female leader selection By Wilms, Rafael; Oostrom, Janneke Karina; van Garderen, Emma

  1. By: Weber, Till O. (Newcastle University); Schulz, Jonathan F. (George Mason University); Beranek, Benjamin (Missouri State University); Lambarraa-Lehnhardt, Fatima (ZALF - Centre for Agricultural Landscape and Land Use Research); Gächter, Simon (University of Nottingham)
    Abstract: We examine the role of cooperative preferences, beliefs, and punishments to uncover potential cross-societal differences in voluntary cooperation. Using one-shot public goods experiments in four comparable subject pools from the US and the UK (two similar Western societies) and Morocco and Turkey (two comparable non-Western societies), we find that cooperation is lower in Morocco and Turkey than in the UK and the US. Using the ABC approach - in which cooperative attitudes and beliefs explain cooperation - we show that cooperation is mostly driven by differences in beliefs rather than cooperative preferences or peer punishment, both of which are similar across the four subject pools. Our methodology is generalizable across subject pools and highlights the central role of beliefs in explaining differences in voluntary cooperation within and across culturally, economically, and institutionally diverse societies. Because our behavioral mechanisms correctly predict actual contributions, we argue that our approach provides a suitable methodology for analyzing the determinants of voluntary cooperation of any group of interest.
    Keywords: cross-cultural experiments, punishment, beliefs, conditional cooperation, ABC method, voluntary cooperation, public goods, WEIRD societies
    JEL: C9 H4 C7 D2
    Date: 2023–08
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp16415&r=evo
  2. By: Wilms, Rafael (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam); Oostrom, Janneke Karina (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam); van Garderen, Emma
    Abstract: Women are often discriminated against in leader selection contexts. The goal of the present study is to examine the role of the rhetorical charisma signal, voice pitch and their interaction in female leader selection (i.e., perceptions of [incentivized] hirability, competence and warmth). We derive our hypotheses based on the charisma signaling theory and the evolutionary perspective on charisma. Based on two pre-registered experiments (total N = 1316), we found that the rhetorical charisma signal increases the applicant’s hirability, while the results were mixed for competence and warmth. Study 1 showed that small changes in voice pitch of ±20Hz did not affect any of the outcomes. In Study 2, we altered the actress’s voice to a low, average, and high female pitch. The results revealed that only a low (vs. baseline) but not a high voice (vs. baseline) pitch increased perceived hirability and competence (while perceived warmth remained unaffected). Furthermore, the interaction between the rhetorical charisma signal and voice pitch did not predict any of the outcomes. Theoretical contributions, practical implications and limitations are discussed.
    Date: 2023–08–29
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:osfxxx:bz6qg&r=evo

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