Directed Generosity and Network Formation: Network Dimension Matters

46 Pages Posted: 13 Dec 2010

See all articles by Ben D'Exelle

Ben D'Exelle

University of East Anglia (UEA)

Arno Riedl

Maastricht University; IZA Institute of Labor Economics; CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute); Netspar

Abstract

We explore network effects on generosity for different network dimensions. To this end we elicit multiple network dimensions (friendship, social support, economic exchange, etc.) in a rural village in the Southern hemisphere and measure generosity with a sequence of dictator games conducted in the field. We find that networks of different dimensions differ substantially in density, clustering, and centrality. When relating generosity to networks we observe that social distance only matters for friendship ties but that structural network variables are important in all network dimensions. Importantly, these effects are not invariant across different network dimensions. We also find that individual characteristics are unrelated with generosity per se but that they have strong explanatory power for network formation.

Keywords: networks, generosity, network formation, experiments

JEL Classification: C72, C90, D64, L14, Z13

Suggested Citation

D’Exelle, Ben and Riedl, Arno M., Directed Generosity and Network Formation: Network Dimension Matters. IZA Discussion Paper No. 5356, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1723994 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1723994

Ben D’Exelle (Contact Author)

University of East Anglia (UEA) ( email )

Norwich Research Park
Norwich, NR4 7TJ
United Kingdom

Arno M. Riedl

Maastricht University ( email )

Department of Microeconomics & Public Economics
P.O. Box 616
Maastricht, 6200 MD
Netherlands

HOME PAGE: http://www.arnoriedl.com

IZA Institute of Labor Economics

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute)

Poschinger Str. 5
Munich, DE-81679
Germany

Netspar ( email )

P.O. Box 90153
Tilburg, 5000 LE
Netherlands

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