Gift giving and the evolution of cooperation

H. Lorne Carmichael, W. Bentley Macleod

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

113 Scopus citations

Abstract

Gift giving is a practice common to many societies. In an evolutionary model the social custom of giving gifts at the beginning of a relationship can lead to trust and cooperation. The evolutionary approach makes predictions about the character of the goods that can be used as gifts. For example, gift goods may have little use value even at low levels of consumption. Although the gifts themselves are useless, the institution is not.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)485-509
Number of pages25
JournalInternational Economic Review
Volume38
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 1997

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Economics and Econometrics

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