Does exposure to violence affect reciprocity? Experimental evidence from the West Bank

Research Cluster

Further details

ABSTRACT

This paper is concerned with how reciprocity in the domain of cooperation and in that of aggression is affected by exposure to violence in early age. We focus on young Palestinians in the West Bank region of the Palestinian Territories. To measure reciprocity in the domain of cooperation, we implement a “public good game” eliciting unconditional and conditional contributions (Fischbacher et al, 2001). To measure reciprocity in the domain of aggression, we implement a decision task in which retaliatory behavior can, but need not, occur. This is a simplified form of the vendetta game developed by Bolle et al. (2014). We develop an identification strategy based on checkpoints near pre-1989 (First Intifada) settlements and on exposure to violence as proxied by being required to cross checkpoints. We find that exposure to violence leads to greater reciprocity, both in the domain of cooperation and in that of aggression.