Standing united or falling divided? High stakes bargaining in a TV game show

We examine high stakes three-person bargaining in a game show where contestants bargain over a large money amount that is split into three unequal shares. We find that individual behavior and outcomes are strongly influenced by equity concerns: those who contributed more to the jackpot claim larger...

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Main Authors: van Dolder, Dennie, van den Assem, Martijn J., Camerer, Colin F., Thaler, Richard H.
Format: Article
Published: American Economic Association 2015
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/30840/
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author van Dolder, Dennie
van den Assem, Martijn J.
Camerer, Colin F.
Thaler, Richard H.
author_facet van Dolder, Dennie
van den Assem, Martijn J.
Camerer, Colin F.
Thaler, Richard H.
author_sort van Dolder, Dennie
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description We examine high stakes three-person bargaining in a game show where contestants bargain over a large money amount that is split into three unequal shares. We find that individual behavior and outcomes are strongly influenced by equity concerns: those who contributed more to the jackpot claim larger shares, are less likely to make concessions, and take home larger amounts. Contestants who announce that they will not back down do well relative to others, but they do not secure larger absolute amounts and they harm others. There is no evidence of a first-mover advantage and little evidence that demographic characteristics matter.
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institution University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus
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last_indexed 2025-11-14T19:10:23Z
publishDate 2015
publisher American Economic Association
recordtype eprints
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spelling nottingham-308402020-05-04T20:09:02Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/30840/ Standing united or falling divided? High stakes bargaining in a TV game show van Dolder, Dennie van den Assem, Martijn J. Camerer, Colin F. Thaler, Richard H. We examine high stakes three-person bargaining in a game show where contestants bargain over a large money amount that is split into three unequal shares. We find that individual behavior and outcomes are strongly influenced by equity concerns: those who contributed more to the jackpot claim larger shares, are less likely to make concessions, and take home larger amounts. Contestants who announce that they will not back down do well relative to others, but they do not secure larger absolute amounts and they harm others. There is no evidence of a first-mover advantage and little evidence that demographic characteristics matter. American Economic Association 2015-05 Article NonPeerReviewed van Dolder, Dennie, van den Assem, Martijn J., Camerer, Colin F. and Thaler, Richard H. (2015) Standing united or falling divided? High stakes bargaining in a TV game show. American Economic Review, 105 (5). pp. 402-407. ISSN 0002-8282 bargaining negotiation game show natural experiment equity theory moral property rights entitlements fairness concessions first-mover advantage http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2344422 doi:10.2139/ssrn.2344422 doi:10.2139/ssrn.2344422
spellingShingle bargaining
negotiation
game show
natural experiment
equity theory
moral property rights
entitlements
fairness
concessions
first-mover advantage
van Dolder, Dennie
van den Assem, Martijn J.
Camerer, Colin F.
Thaler, Richard H.
Standing united or falling divided? High stakes bargaining in a TV game show
title Standing united or falling divided? High stakes bargaining in a TV game show
title_full Standing united or falling divided? High stakes bargaining in a TV game show
title_fullStr Standing united or falling divided? High stakes bargaining in a TV game show
title_full_unstemmed Standing united or falling divided? High stakes bargaining in a TV game show
title_short Standing united or falling divided? High stakes bargaining in a TV game show
title_sort standing united or falling divided? high stakes bargaining in a tv game show
topic bargaining
negotiation
game show
natural experiment
equity theory
moral property rights
entitlements
fairness
concessions
first-mover advantage
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/30840/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/30840/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/30840/