Evolution of Spontaneous Social Exchange- An Experimental Study

Each of several exchange partners is the monopoly owner of a specific commoditywhich she can share with others. It is optimal to keep the own endowment, but allwould gain by mutual gift exchange. Participants play the game repeatedly in constantgroups (partner design) and can establish stable exchange relations over time. Willthey include all group members, as suggested by efficiency, will early exploiters bepermanently isolated (ostracism) and will groups become more efficient over time? Toanswer these questions the game is repeated once with a new group. We also vary thegroup size.