Conflict and reciprocity: A study with Palestinian youths
通过实验游戏研究西岸青少年，发现需穿越军事检查站上学的青少年更倾向于以合作回应合作、以报复回应敌意，部分效果源于对同伴行为的信念变化。
This paper studies how reciprocity in the forms of conditional cooperation and vindictive behavior is affected by differential exposure to conflict. We use experimental games to measure preferences of adolescents living in the West Bank, and their obligation to cross military checkpoints to go to school as a proxy for differential exposure to the conflict. We find that adolescents who have an obligation to cross military checkpoints to go to school engage in more reciprocal behavior: they more frequently cooperate in response to cooperative behavior and retaliate against hostile behavior. Part of the effect is explained by changes in the beliefs about their peers’ behavior. A re-analysis of micro-datasets from other conflict contexts provides evidence of the generalizability of our results.