ABSTRACT
The finding that people care about others’ utilities or payoffs is very common in experimental economics.1 Despite the self-seeking behaviour assumption of mainstream economics, there are also many formal models which seek theoretically to explain why individuals make sacrifices in order to increase the utilities or payoffs of others.2 The gender variable has been taken into account to predict altruistic behaviour in social environments. According to the conventional view, women are more socially-oriented than men (Eckel and Grossman 1998). This difference would justify the introduction of gender differences in economic models. Recent laboratory work supports this position. There is evidence that men and women exhibit different propensities to trust and to reciprocate. This finding can be attributed to the fact that women have more other-regarding preferences than men (Innocenti and Pazienza 2006).
