Social Asymmetries and Bargaining in the Ultimatum Game: A Compared Study

Abstract

The present paper analyzes the dynamics of bargaining of the ultimatum game in presence of social differences amidst the participants. To that end, two parallel experiments were set-up. One where the social status states of the individuals were of common knowledge (alternative version) and another one where they were unknown (traditional version, our control group). From a population of 190 undergraduate students and using "micro-state" incentives according to the prevalent status, the obtained results differ significantly from those found by Hoffman et al. (1994) in the original paper. Regarding this aspect, we find that when the asymmetries are not exalted within the protocol, therefore the proposed offers as well as the acceptance decisions turn out to be a homogenous pair.