Research Seminar in Economics

In our upcoming Research Seminar in Economics on Wednesday, June 26th, Dr. Gianluca Grimalda (PICAIS) will present his work entitled:

“Market integration, egalitarianism, and reward of merit: An experimental analysis from Papua New Guinea small-scale societies”

Here is the abstract to this talk:

The study examines the relationship between market integration, tolerance of economic inequality and altruism/pro-sociality. According to a first strand of literature, market interactions help develop a sense of generalized pro-sociality, which extends to complete strangers the sense of particularized pro-sociality that is normally reserved to one’s family, clan, or kin in traditional societies. A second strand of theoretical literature posits the opposing view that market interactions erodes pro-sociality and engenders a shift away from egalitarianism to individualism. Both mechanisms are, arguably, associated with changes in social norms emphasizing either trust and reciprocity or acceptance of inequality and reward of individual merit and responsibility. We test these hypotheses in the context of small-scale tribal societies in Bougainville, Papua New Guinea, which are transitioning from a horticulturalist subsistence economy to a market economy. Only about one quarter of one’s diet (measured by their calories) comes, on average, from market exchanges. The rest comes from own production or gifts that are part of an extensive network of reciprocal exchanges. We test both theories in a field experiment in which tolerance of inequality is measured through the willingness to redistribute to a counterpart earnings unequally allocated to two participants. An impartial third participant is also asked to redistribute earnings between the other two participants. Research was conducted in 30 villages with different degrees of proximity to the market towns of the region, ranging from coastal villages closely connected to the market town by tarmacked road to villages inaccessible by drivable road.

This presentation is part of Dr Grimalda's PICAIS fellowship programme.