Which is the fair sex? Gender differences in altruism.
Abstract
We study gender differences in altruism by examining a modified dictator game with varying incomes and prices. Our results indicate that the question “which is the fair sex?” has a complicated answer—when altruism is expensive, women are kinder, but when it is cheap, men are more altruistic. That is, we find that the male and female “demand curves for altruism” cross, and that men are more responsive to price changes. Furthermore, men are more likely to be either perfectly selfish or perfectly selfless, whereas women tend to be “equalitarians” who prefer to share evenly.
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Women are on average more proficient at social cognition and tend to display more prosocial behavior than men.
“women are on average more proficient at social cognition and tend to display more prosocial behavior than men”
From Hypernatural Monitoring: A Social Rehearsal Account of Smartphone Addiction (2018) · cites this paper as Andreoni and Vesterlund, 2001
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- Authors
- Andreoni, J., & Vesterlund, L.
- Affiliations
- Iowa State University (US)
- Venue
- The Quarterly Journal of Economics
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2001-02-01
- Volume
- 116
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 293-312
- ISSN
- 0033-5533 (ISSN-L)
- 1531-4650
- OpenAlex
- W2146576574
- Cited by
- 1,427
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 48 · 2025: 70 · 2024: 57 · 2023: 64 · 2022: 77 · 2021: 63 · 2020: 98 · 2019: 49 · 2018: 67 · 2017: 57 · 2016: 52 · 2015: 70 · 2014: 71 · 2013: 53 · 2012: 56
- FWCI
- 107.99
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- The Quarterly Journal of Economics (publishedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Safety Research › Experimental Behavioral Economics Studies
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Evolutionary Game Theory and Cooperation
- Social Sciences › Gender Studies › Gender, Labor, and Family Dynamics
- Keywords
- gender differences, altruism, dictator game, fairness, income, price, egalitarianism, price responsiveness
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