Robin wrote:
> I'd like to call your attention to the following
excellent paper
> by one of my advisors (Palfrey):
>
> "Anomalous Behavior in Public Goods Experiments: How Much
> and Why?"
> THE AMERICAN ECONOMIC REVIEW (December 1997)
I had a quick look at the paper, but I see a general problem with
economics experiment design to test altruistic behaviour. They all
seem to depend on the assumption that an altruistic subject would act
to maximize the payoff for the group he is in. But why should an
altruist think the world is better of if he can transfer some money
from economics researchers to an unknown group of self-selected
volunteers?
_____________________________________________________
Nicholas Bostrom
Department of Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method
London School of Economics
n.bostrom@lse.ac.uk
http://www.hedweb.com/nickb
Received on Wed May 20 23:36:27 1998
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