Given money to divide with no possibility of retaliation, most people still give some away.
Kahneman, Knetsch and Thaler's 1986 design removes every strategic motive: the recipient cannot retaliate or reciprocate. Giving falls sharply when the framing changes, so the effect is real but highly context-sensitive.
In practice
- A team dividing an unexpected budget surplus gives some to the group with no claim on it and no way to reciprocate.
- A departing employee hands over documentation nobody will check, to colleagues who cannot reward them.
- Standing
- Giving falls sharply when anonymity and framing change, so the effect is context-sensitive.
- Further reading
- Wikipedia
- Subject
- Games & Strategic Interaction
- Essay
- What is provable, and what people actually do