Deliberation Favours Social Efficiency by Making People Disregard Their Relative Shares: Evidence from US and India

Forthcoming, Royal Society Open Science

21 Pages Posted: 26 Jun 2016 Last revised: 16 Jan 2017

See all articles by Valerio Capraro

Valerio Capraro

Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca - Department of Psychology

Brice Corgnet

Chapman University - Economic Science Institute; Chapman University - The George L. Argyros School of Business & Economics

Antonio Espín

University of Granada

Roberto Hernan Gonzalez

Université de Bourgogne - Burgundy School of Business; University of Granada

Date Written: January 16, 2017

Abstract

Groups make decisions on both the production and the distribution of resources. These decisions typically involve a tension between increasing the total level of group resources (i.e. social efficiency) and distributing these resources among group members (i.e. individuals’ relative shares). This is the case because the redistribution process may destroy part of the resources, thus resulting in socially inefficient allocations. Here we apply a dual-process approach to understand the cognitive underpinnings of this fundamental tension. We conducted a set of experiments to examine the extent to which different allocation decisions respond to intuition or deliberation. In a newly developed approach, we assess intuition and deliberation at both the trait level (using the Cognitive Reflection Test, henceforth CRT) and the state level (through the experimental manipulation of response times). To test for robustness, experiments were conducted in two countries: the US and India. Despite absolute level differences across countries, in both locations we show that: (i) time pressure and low CRT scores are associated with individuals’ concerns for their relative shares; (ii) time delay and high CRT scores are associated with individuals’ concerns for social efficiency. These findings demonstrate that deliberation favours social efficiency by overriding individuals’ intuitive tendency to focus on relative shares.

Suggested Citation

Capraro, Valerio and Corgnet, Brice and Espín, Antonio and Hernan Gonzalez, Roberto, Deliberation Favours Social Efficiency by Making People Disregard Their Relative Shares: Evidence from US and India (January 16, 2017). Forthcoming, Royal Society Open Science, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2799850 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2799850

Valerio Capraro

Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca - Department of Psychology ( email )

Brice Corgnet

Chapman University - Economic Science Institute ( email )

1 University Drive
Orange, CA 92866
United States

Chapman University - The George L. Argyros School of Business & Economics ( email )

1 University Drive
Orange, CA 92866
United States

Antonio Espín (Contact Author)

University of Granada ( email )

Campus de Cartuja S/N
Granada, Granada 18071
Spain

Roberto Hernan Gonzalez

Université de Bourgogne - Burgundy School of Business ( email )

29 rue Sambin
Dijon, 21006
France

University of Granada ( email )

C/Rector López Argueta S/N
Granada, Granada 18071
Spain

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