Punish the rich- games of experimental economics We’re more likely to punish the rich than the poor, at least in games of experimental economics. The strategy is emotionally driven and the results suggest that human social behaviour is influenced by egalitarian motives.
James H. Fowler and colleagues set up a game where players were randomly allocated different sums of money, and were then able to ‘reward’ or ‘punish’ others by giving or taking money away. The richest players were penalized the hardest, whereas the poorest players were penalized the least.
The results show that people will reduce and increase others’ incomes at a personal cost, even when there is no cooperative behaviour to be reinforced. Their decisions are emotionally led, and the size and frequency of income alternations are strongly influenced by inequality — the pattern of punishments is designed to minimize inequality between the richest and poorest. The study suggests that egalitarian motives affect whether or not we donate cash to others, and this may be an important factor underlying the evolution of cooperation in humans.
CONTACT
James H. Fowler (University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA)
Tel: +1 858 534 6807; E-mail: jhfowler@ucsd.edu

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