Fairness and Retaliation: The Economics of Reciprocity
2000 · paper · Economics
Reviews evidence that many people reciprocate, repaying kindness and punishing hostility even at personal cost. Argues that institutional details determine whether reciprocal or self-interested types dominate outcomes, with implications for incomplete contracts and cooperation.
Checked: PDF from web.archive.org, fetched 5 Oct 2026. Page numbers are those of that PDF.
9 findings
Reference or label Text cites "(Bowles and Gintis, 1998b)" (p. 161), but the reference list has a single unlettered 1998 Bowles–Gintis entry ("Is Equality Passé?") and no 1998a.
- p. 3 para on social policy
(Bowles and Gintis, 1998b)
- p. 21 References
Bowles, Samuel and Herbert Gintis. 1998. “Is Equality Passe´?”
- p. 21 References
Bowles, Samuel and Herbert Gintis. 1998. “Is
- p. 4 para 3
Abbink, Irlenbusch and Renner, forthcoming
Judge's note: p.3 image shows '(Bowles and Gintis, 1998b)'. The p.21 reference list has 'Bowles, Samuel and Herbert Gintis. 1998. "Is Equality Passé?"' and a 1999 entry, with no a/b suffix. A grep of the full text finds no other 1998 Bowles–Gintis citation or entry. The Abbink point in note 5 is handled under C005.
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Reference or label Text cites "(Hoffman, McCabe and Smith, 1995; ...)" (p. 162), but the only matching reference entry is dated 1996 ("On Expectations and Monetary Stakes in Ultimatum Games", IJGT 25).
- p. 4 para 1
Hoffman, McCabe and Smith, 1995
- p. 22 References
Hoffman, Elizabeth, Kevin McCabe and Vernon Smith. 1996.
- p. 4 High stakes paragraph
(Hoffman, McCabe and Smith, 1995;
- p. 22 References
Smith. 1996. “On Expectations and Mone-
Judge's note: p.4 image shows 1995. The p.22 reference list has 'Hoffman, Elizabeth, Kevin McCabe and Vernon Smith. 1996.' and no 1995 entry for these authors.
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Reference or label Text says "Burnham (1998) found..." (p. 162), but the only Burnham reference is dated 1999 ("Testosterone and Negotiations").
- p. 4 para 3
Burnham (1998) found
- p. 21 References
Burnham, Terence. 1999. “Testosterone and
- p. 21 References
Burnham, Terence. 1999. “Testosterone and Negotiations,”
- p. 21 References
Burnham, Terence. 1999.
Judge's note: p.4 image shows 'Burnham (1998)'. The p.21 reference list has only 'Burnham, Terence. 1999.'
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Reference or label Text cites "Dufwenberg and Kirchsteiger, 1999" (p. 162), but the reference list dates the entry 1998 ("A Theory of Sequential Reciprocity").
- p. 4 last para
Dufwenberg and Kirchsteiger, 1999
- p. 21 References
Dufwenberg, Martin and Georg Kirchsteiger. 1998.
- p. 21 References
Dufwenberg, Martin and Georg Kirchsteiger. 1998. “A Theory of Sequential Reciprocity,”
- p. 21 References
1998. “A Theory of Sequential Reciprocity,”
Judge's note: p.4 image shows 1999. The p.21 reference list has the single entry 'Dufwenberg, Martin and Georg Kirchsteiger. 1998.'
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Reference or label Concluding Remarks say "There are now several evolutionary models (see footnote 3)", but footnote 3 reads "For a survey on public goods experiments, see Ledyard (1995)"; the evolutionary models are in footnote 2.
- p. 20 Concluding Remarks
evolutionary models (see footnote 3)
- p. 6 footnote 3
For a survey on public goods experiments, see Ledyard (1995).
- p. 20 Concluding Remarks, final paragraph
evolutionary models (see footnote 3) that provide answers to this question
- p. 5 Footnote 2
For evolutionary explanations see Gu¨th and Yaari (1992)
Judge's note: The p.20 image shows 'see footnote 3'. On the p.6 image, footnote 3 is the Ledyard public-goods survey. On the p.5 image, footnote 2 lists the evolutionary explanations (Güth and Yaari; Bowles and Gintis; Sethi and Somanathan; Gintis).
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Reference or label Bewley's book is cited as 1999 ("Bewley (1995, 1999)" p. 169; "see Bewley, 1999" p. 172; "Bewley (1999) reports" p. 175), but the reference list has only Bewley 1995 and "Bewley, Truman. 2000. Why Wages Don't Fall During a Recession."
- p. 11 para 2
Bewley (1995, 1999)
- p. 14 Wage Rigidity section
see Bewley, 1999
- p. 17 para 2
Bewley (1999) reports
- p. 21 References
Bewley, Truman. 2000. Why Wages Don’t Fall
Judge's note: I checked all three in-text occurrences on the images (pp.11, 14, 17 of the PDF). The p.21 reference list has Bewley 1995 and 2000 entries and no 1999 entry.
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Reference or label Figure 3 source line reads "Source: Fehr and Gächter (forthcoming)." but the text attributes the incentive/crowding-out experiments shown in it to Fehr and Gächter (2000).
- p. 13 Figure 3 source
Source: Fehr and Ga¨chter (forthcoming).
- p. 12 Work Motivation section
Fehr and Ga¨chter (2000) examine this possibility
- p. 13 Text discussing Figure 3
In the experiments of Fehr and Ga¨chter (2000)
- p. 12 Work Motivation section
In a new series of experiments, Fehr and Ga¨chter (2000) examine this possi- bility.
Judge's note: On pages 12-13 the Figure 3 data are described as from Fehr and Gächter (2000), 'Do Incentive Contracts Crowd-Out Voluntary Cooperation?'. The 'forthcoming' entry on page 22 is the public goods punishment paper. The source line appears to have been copied from Figures 1 and 2.
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Reference or label The reference "Lindbeck, Assar, Sten Nyberg and Jörgen Weibull. 1999. ... Quarterly Journal of Economics. 116:1, pp. 1-35." gives volume 116, while another 1999 QJE entry (Fehr and Schmidt) gives volume 114; the entry is also never cited in the text.
- p. 22 References
Economics. 116:1, pp. 1-35.
- p. 22 References, Fehr & Schmidt
Quarterly Journal of Economics. 114, pp. 817-68.
Only the authors can say what is right here.
Judge's note: Rests on outside knowledge: that a journal carries a single volume number per year (QJE 1999 = vol. 114). Within the list, Blanchflower et al. is QJE 1996 vol. 111 and Fehr–Schmidt is QJE 1999 vol. 114, which are consistent with each other; 116 for 1999 is not. No in-text citation of Lindbeck appears anywhere in the article.
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Wording Experiment design sentence reads "In each of the ten periods, an employer faces a different principal, which ensures that all matches are one-shot", but in this section the employer is the principal; the counterpart should be the agent.
- p. 18 Foundations of Incomplete Contracts, para 3
an employer faces a different principal
- p. 18 Foundations of Incomplete Contracts, experiment description
In each of the ten periods, an employer faces a different principal
Judge's note: The p.18 image shows the sentence. The same page treats employer and principal as one role: 'the principal can impose a fine on the agent' alongside 'the employer conditions the fine'. The design has 12 principals and 12 agents. The likely intended wording is 'an agent faces a different principal' or 'a principal faces a different agent'.
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4 minor (typos and the like; most checked by the judge only)
Reference or label Text cites "Abbink, Irlenbusch and Renner, forthcoming" (p. 162), while the reference list gives a published 2000 entry (JEBO 42:2, pp. 265-77).
- p. 4 para 3
Abbink, Irlenbusch and Renner, forthcoming
- p. 21 References
Renner. 2000. “The Moonlighting Game.
- p. 22 References
Lindbeck, Assar, Sten Nyberg and Jo¨rgen
- p. 4 para 3
Abbink, Irlenbusch and Renner,
Judge's note: Both forms are visible on the p.4 and p.21 images. This is likely a production-timing inconsistency. The side point in note 4 also checks out: Lindbeck, Nyberg and Weibull (1999) appears in the p.22 list but is never cited in the text (grep finds it only in the references). The doubt in note 4 about that entry's volume would rest on outside knowledge, so it is not judged here.
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Typo Footnote 2 spells the author "Sethi and Somananthan (2000)", but the reference list has "Sethi, Rajiv and E. Somanathan. 2000."
- p. 5 footnote 2
Sethi and Somananthan (2000)
- p. 23 References
Sethi, Rajiv and E. Somanathan. 2000.
- p. 23 References
E. Somanathan. 2000.
Judge's note: The p.5 footnote image shows 'Somananthan'. The p.23 reference crop shows 'Somanathan'.
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Typo The Henrich reference title opens with a quotation mark that is never closed: "“Does Culture Matter ... of the Peruvian Amazon. American Economic Review."
- p. 22 References
ruvian Amazon. American Economic Review.
Judge's note: The page 22 image shows no closing quotation mark after 'Amazon.'.
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Typo The Gibbons and Katz reference reads "59, p. 515-35." where every other page-range entry uses "pp."
- p. 22 References
59, p. 515-35.
Judge's note: Confirmed on the page 22 image.
Second check: none (judge only)