| This PhD project comprises integrated analyses of inequality and cooperation using asymmetric one-shot games. We investigate how inequality in "payoffs" affects cooperation addressing potential moderators such as the legitimacy of inequality and social distance between actors. The game theoretical framework will be applied to inter-ethnic relations where social distance between actors varies in situ. As micro-behavioural theories, non-standard utility models will be used. These models assume that individuals are not only interested in their own outcomes but also the outcomes of their interaction partners. Moreover, expectations about the social motives of the other person become an important factor in game theoretical models that we employ. Thus, one important constituent of this PhD project is constructing tools to measure social motives as well as expectations abut the motives of the others. Mostly, experimental data will be used to test hypotheses derived from the basic game theoretic model which links asymmetric "payoffs", social motives, expectations about the social motives of the interaction partner, and cooperative behaviour. |
