15 Country Survey
Overview
The 15 country survey was conducted by several highly regarded and influential economists such as John Henrich, Ernst Fehr, Samuel Bowles, Herbert Gintis, Richard Mcelreath, and Colin Camerer. The one problem that bothered these economists was the canonical assumption that individuals in today’s society are entirely self-interested. Many experiments showed that people care about fairness and reciprocity, are willing to change the distribution of material outcomes at a personal cost, and are willing to reward those who act in a cooperative manner rather than those who act in opposition. However, there were still some essential questions which needed answer. Do individual’s social and economic environments shape behavior or is there a universal pattern of behavior? Is it individual’s attributes such as age, sex, relative wealth, or groups which they belong to responsible for this behavior? And lastly, are there cultures that approximate the canonical account of self-regarding behavior? The researchers realized that these questions could not be answered because normally the subjects questioned are college students. So the researchers went to five continents and 12 different countries, and studied 15 small-scale societies exhibiting a wide range of economic and cultural conditions.
The 15 Countries
The sample consisted of three foraging societies, six cultures that practice slash and burn horticulture, four nomadic herding groups, and three sedentary, small-scale agriculturalists societies.
Evidence
Much like the experiment used on college students, the economists decided to use the ultimatum game in all 17 societies. Player 1, or the prosperer, in this game is provisionally assigned an amount which is equivalent to a day to two days wage, and Player 1 is asked to assign a portion of the wage to Player 2, or the responder. Aligning with the rules of the game mentioned under Vernon Smith, the respondent then chooses whether or not to accept the offer.
