Dictator game

The dictator game is a game in experimental economics, similar to the ultimatum game, first developed by Daniel Kahneman and colleagues. Experimental results offer evidence against the rationally self-interested individual (sometimes called the homo economicus) concept of economic behavior, though precisely what to conclude from the evidence is controversial.

In the dictator game, the first player, “the dictator”, determines how to split an endowment (such as a cash prize) between himself and the second player. The second player, “the recipient”, simply receives the remainder of the endowment left by the dictator. The recipient’s role is entirely passive and has no input into the outcome of the game. As a result, the dictator game is not formally a proper game (as the term is used in game theory). To be a proper game, every player’s outcome must depend on the actions of at least one other’s. Since the dictator’s outcome depends only on his own actions, this situation is one of decision theory. Despite this formal point, the dictator game is used in the game theory literature as a degenerate game. This game has been used to test the homo economicus model of individual behavior: if individuals were only concerned with their own economic well being, dictators would allocate the entire good to themselves and give nothing to the recipient.

See also

Game Theory, Ultimatum game, Prisoner’s dilemma, Neuroeconomics, Public goods game, Trust game

Papers

• Bolton, Gary E., Elena Katok, and Rami Zwick. Dictator game giving: Rules of fairness versus acts of kindness. International Journal of Game Theory 27.2 (1998): 269-299.
• Bardsley, Nicholas. Dictator game giving: altruism or artefact?. Experimental Economics 11.2 (2008): 122-133.