Working Paper
Gender priming in solidarity games

What is the effect of gender priming on solidarity behaviour?

We explore a two-player solidarity game where players can insure each other against the risk of losses. In the utility function, priming is represented as the ‘change in weight’ given to the other player’s payoff.

We test this experimentally in a developing country setting, the Philippines. We consider a treatment that involves reminding subjects of their gender.

We found that, without priming, there were no statistically different gender differences in the solidarity game. With priming, however, there was an increased willingness in women to provide insurance.