Paper #1462

Title:

On the external validity of social-preference games: A systematic lab-field study

Authors:

Matteo M. Galizzi and Daniel Navarro Martinez

Date:

January 2015

Abstract:

We present a lab-field experiment designed to assess systematically the external validity of social preferences elicited in a variety of experimental games. We do this by comparing behavior in the different games with a number of behaviors elicited in the field and with self-reported behaviors exhibited in the past, using the same sample of participants. Our results show that the experimental social-preference games do a poor job in explaining both social behaviors in the field and social behaviors from the past.

Keywords:

Social preferences, experimental games, external validity, field behavior.

JEL codes:

C92, C93, D03.

Area of Research:

Behavioral and Experimental Economics

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