Hostname: page-component-8678677fb7-zddkp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-10-05T15:56:12.875Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Gender differences in the dictator experiment: evidence from the matrilineal Mosuo and the patriarchal Yi

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2025

Binglin Gong ,
Huibin Yan  and
Chun-Lei Yang
Binglin Gong*
Affiliation:
School of Management, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China
Huibin Yan*
Affiliation:
Economics Department, UC Santa Cruz, Engineering 2, 401, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA
Chun-Lei Yang*
Affiliation:
Research Center for Humanities and Social Sciences, Academia Sinica, Nankang, Taipei 115, Taiwan
*
binglin@gmail.com; blgong@fudan.edu.cn
huibin@gmail.com
cly@gate.sinica.edu.tw
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In this study, we report experimental results on the dictator decision collected in two neighboring ethnic minority groups, the matrilineal Mosuo and the patriarchal Yi, in southwestern China. We follow the double-blind protocol as in Eckel and Grossman (in Handbook of experimental economics results, 1998), who find that women in the U.S. donate more than men. We find this pattern reversed in the Mosuo society and find no gender difference in the Yi society. This is highly suggestive that societal factors play an important role in shaping the gender differences in pro-social behavior such as dictator giving.

Keywords

Gender differenceEthnic differenceDictator gameMatrilineal societyField experiment

JEL classification

Z1: Cultural Economics • Economic Sociology • Economic Anthropology C93: Field Experiments J16: Economics of Gender • Non-labor Discrimination J15: Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants • Non-labor Discrimination

Information

Type
Original Paper
Information
Experimental Economics , Volume 18 , Issue 2 , June 2015 , pp. 302 - 313
Copyright
Copyright © 2014 Economic Science Association

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

Footnotes

Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:https://doi.org/10.1007/s10683-014-9403-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

References

Andersen, S, Bulte, E, Gneezy, U, & List, JA (2008). Do women supply more public goods than men? Preliminary experimental evidence from matrilineal and patriarchal societies. American Economic Review: Papers & Proceedings, 98(2), 376–381. 10.1257/aer.98.2.376CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Andreoni, J, & Douglas Bernheim, B (2009). Social image and the 50–50 norm: A theoretical and experimental analysis of audience effects. Econometrica, 77(5), 1607–1636. 10.3982/ECTA7384Google Scholar
Andreoni, J, & Vesterlund, L (2001). Which is the fair sex? Gender differences in altruism. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 116, 293–312. 10.1162/003355301556419CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Babcock, L, & Laschever, S (2003). Women don’t ask, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press 10.1515/9781400825691CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ben-Ner, A, Putterman, L, Kong, F, & Magan, D (2004). Reciprocity in a two part dictator game. Journal of Economic Psychology, 25, 581–589. 10.1016/S0167-4870(03)00065-5CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bolton, G, & Katok, E (1995). An experimental test for gender differences in beneficent behavior. Economics Letters, 48, 287–292. 10.1016/0165-1765(94)00621-8CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cai, H. (1999). Assessment of Muoso women’s economic and cultural roles from their functions within marriage and family. Journal of Southwest Institute for Ethnic Groups, Philosophy and Social Sciences, 20, 66–69, (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Croson, R, & Gneezy, U (2009). Gender differences in preferences. Journal of Economic Literature, 47(2), 448–474. 10.1257/jel.47.2.448CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dana, J, Weber, R, & Kuang, J (2007). Exploiting moral wriggle room: experiments demonstrating an illusory preference for fairness. Economic Theory, 33, 67–80. 10.1007/s00199-006-0153-zCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Darwin, C (1871). The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex, London: John Murray.Google Scholar
Dessaint, AY (1980). Minorities of southwest China: An introduction to the Yi (Lolo) and related peoples, New Haven: HRAF Press.Google Scholar
Dickinson, DL, & Tiefenthaler, J (2002). What is fair? Experimental evidence. Southern Economic Journal, 69, 414–428. 10.2307/1061680Google Scholar
Dufwenberg, M, & Astri, M (2004). Gender in Committees, mimeo, Tucson: University of Arizona.Google Scholar
Dufwenberg, M, & Astri, M (2004). Discrimination by gender and social distance, mimeo, Tucson: University of Arizona.Google Scholar
Eckel, CC, & Grossman, PJ (1998). Are women less selfish than men? Evidence from dictator experiments. Economic Journal, 108, 726–735. 10.1111/1468-0297.00311CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gneezy, U, Leonard, KL, & List, JA (2009). Gender differences in competition: Evidence from a matrilineal and a patriarchal society. Econometrica, 77, 1637–1664. 10.3982/ECTA6690Google Scholar
Gong, B, & Yang, C-L (2011). Gender differences in risk attitudes: Field experiments on the matrilineal Mosuo and the patriarchal Yi. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 83(2012), 59–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harrell, S (2001). Ways of being ethnic in southwest China, Seattle: University of Washington Press.Google Scholar
Harrell, S (2001). Perspective on the Yi in southwest China, Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Henrich, J, Boyd, R, Bowles, S, Camerer, C, Fehr, E, Gintis, H, McElreath, R, Alvard, M, Barr, A, Ensminger, J, Hill, K, Gil-White, F, Gurven, M, Marlowe, F, Patton, JQ, Smith, N, & Tracer, D (2005). ‘Economic man’ in cross-cultural perspective: Behavioral experiments in 15 small-scale societies. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 28, 795–855.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Henrich, J, Ensimger, J, McElreath, R, Barr, A, Barrett, C, Bolyanatz, A, Cardenas, JC, Gurven, M, Gwako, E, Henrich, N, Lesorogol, C, Marlowe, F, Tracer, D, & Ziker, J (2010). Markets, religion, community size, and the evolution of fairness and punishment. Science, 327, 1480–1484. 10.1126/science.1182238CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hill, AM, Dehl, E, & Harrell, S (2001). A comparative approach to lineages among the Xiao Liangshang Nuosu and Han, Chapter 3. Perspective on the Yi in southwest China, Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Hoffman, E, McCabe, K, & Smith, VL (1994). Preferences, property rights, and anonymity in bargaining games. Games and Economic Behavior, 7(3), 346–380. 10.1006/game.1994.1056CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Latami, D. (2006). A collection of research articles about Mosuo society and culture (摩梭社会文化研究论文集). Kunming: Kunming University Press, (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Latami, D. (2009). Villages between city and countryside—The cultural history of the Mosuo in Langqu District of the Ninglang Yi Autonomous County (城乡之间的村落—宁蒗彝族自治县蒗蕖区域摩梭人的文化生活史). Kunming: Yunnan Ethnic Press, (In Chinese).Google Scholar
Lu, Y, Wang, C, Qin, Z, Wen, B, Farina, SE, Jin, L, & Li, H (2012). Mitochondrial origin of the matriarchal Mosuo people in China. Mitochondrial DNA, 23(1), 13–19. 10.3109/19401736.2011.643875CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Major, B (1989). Gender differences in comparisons and entitlement: Implications for comparable worth. Journal of Social Issues, 45, 99–115. 10.1111/j.1540-4560.1989.tb02362.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Major, B (1993). Gender, entitlement and the distribution of family labor. Journal of Social Issues, 49(3), 141–159. 10.1111/j.1540-4560.1993.tb01173.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mathieu, C (2003). A history and anthropological study of the ancient kingdoms of the Sino-Tibetan Borderland—Naxi and Mosuo, New York: Mellen Studies in Anthropology.Google Scholar
McKhann, C. (1998). Naxi, Rerkua, Moso, Meng: Kinship, politics and ritual on the Yunnan-Sichuan frontier. In Oppitz, M. & Elisabeth, H. (Eds.), Naxi and Moso ethnography: Kin, Rites, pictographs. Zurich: Voelkerkundenmuseum Zuerich.Google Scholar
Rock, J (1947). The ancient Na-Khi kingdom of southwest China, Cambridge: Harvard University Press 10.4159/harvard.9780674289192CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Selten, R, & Ockenfels, A (1998). An experimental solidarity game. Journal of Economic Behavior Organization, 34, 517–539. 10.1016/S0167-2681(97)00107-8CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shih, C-K (2000). Tisese and its anthropological significance—Issues around the visiting sexual system among the Moso. L’HOMME, 154–155, 697–712. 10.4000/lhomme.56Google Scholar
Wen, B, Shi, H, Ren, L, Xi, H, Li, K, Zhang, W, Bing, S, Si, S, Jin, L, & Xiao, C (2004). The origin of Mosuo people as revealed by mtDNA and Y chromosome variation. Science in China Series C: Life Sciences, 47(1), 1–10. 10.1360/02yc0207CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yuan, Y (1992). The society and families of the modern Yi in Liang Mountain (当代凉山彝族的社会和家庭), Chengdu: Sichuan University Press [In Chinese]Google Scholar
Zhang, J. (2013). Do girls in China compete just as much as boys?—Evidence from an experiment that predicts educational choice, Working Paper.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Gong et al. supplementary material

Gong et. al. supplementary material
Download Gong et al. supplementary material(File)
File 122.4 KB