Premium
WHAT'S IN A NAME? RACIAL IDENTITY AND ALTRUISM IN POST‐APARTHEID SOUTH AFRICA
Author(s) -
Van Der Merwe Wilhelm Gerhard,
Burns Justine
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
south african journal of economics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.502
H-Index - 31
eISSN - 1813-6982
pISSN - 0038-2280
DOI - 10.1111/j.1813-6982.2008.00174.x
Subject(s) - generosity , insider , identity (music) , white (mutation) , test (biology) , social psychology , dictator game , altruism (biology) , race (biology) , psychology , sociology , political science , gender studies , law , paleontology , biochemistry , chemistry , physics , biology , acoustics , gene
This paper reports the results of an economic experiment which was designed to test the effect of racial identity on generosity in a non‐strategic setting. A sample of undergraduate university students was recruited to participate in a dictator game, where surnames of individuals were revealed to convey information about racial identity. Results indicate that compared to a set of control experiments where participant identity was kept anonymous, revealing racial identity has a significant and positive impact on the size of the offers made. However, while Black participants did not vary their offers based on the racial identity of their partners, White participants were more generous towards White partners than Black partners, exhibiting insider favouritism in their offers.