Edward F Fischer
talk to be delivered at Vanderbilt's Center for the Study of Religion and Culture
28 October 2005

The Limits of Self Interest

Tecpán Guatemala

Thursday market:

Relative Wealth

Society A:        earn $60,000/year        average income is $40,000

Society B:         earn $80,000/year        average income is $100,000

Prisoner’s Dilemma

			      Player B: cooperate  	     Player B: defect
Player A: cooperate 		      2 yrs. / 2 yrs. 		   5 yrs. / 0 yrs.
Player A: defect 		      0 yrs. / 5 yrs. 		   4 yrs. / 4 yrs.

Ultimatum Game Results


Group			Mean		Mode		Rejection

Lamalera		.57		.50		n/a
Maya-Tecpán		.51		.50		.05
Ache			.48		.40		.00
Pittsburgh		.47		.50		.22
Hamburg			.47		.50		.13
Developed Countries*	.44		.50		n/a
Shona			.44		.50		.08
Maya-Chisec		.42		.40		.29
Tokyo			.42		.50		.24
Jerusalem		.37		.50		.27
Mapuche			.34		.50		.07
Machiguenga		.26		.15		.05

Ultimatum Game and Survey Results from Tecpán (2003) and Chisec (2004)

				Tecpán			Chisec

average offer			5.1			4.2
minimum				4.3			3.7
Rejected			5.3%			29.4%
IMO				4.85			4.67
average offer - IMO		0.25			-0.47


yrs school			8.6			1.8
SES community			high			low
catholic			49%			43%		

Tecpán Today