Intergenerational bahviour with regards to Risk, Fairness and the Formation of Social Norms: An Experimental Approach

Climate change is one of the most important global issues of our time. It does not only have implications on the present population but also on future generations for a long time to come. With this in mind, it is essential to understand how people act in an intergenerational setting. This thesis focuses on three aspects; risk, fairness, and indirect reciprocity together with the formation of social norms. An experiment, with emphasis on these aspects in an intergenerational context, is performed. In the experiment three consecutive generations receive the same amount of money and are asked to repay a debt, which to the extent that is has not been paid by the first two generations, has to be fully repaid by the third and last generation. The results with regards to fairness indicate that most subjects act fair towards subjects in one or the other generation although more subjects are concerned with fairness with regards to the subsequent generation than the previous. Actions made by the second generation reveal the existence of indirect reciprocity and that norms are formed with regards to the choice of the first generation. In particular, when risk is introduced, a majority of the subjects exhibits a norm-forming behaviour