Interpersonal allocation behavior in a household saving experiment

We investigate the intertemporal allocation behavior of spouses with different deterministic life expectations in an experiment. In each period of their life both partners propose a consumption level of which one is then randomly implemented. In spite of the complex dynamics optimal behavior is rather simple and straightforward in the sense of conditional consumption smoothing. A substantial number of participants does not care whether their partner receives any payoff. This selfish behavior is punished by their partners.On average participants stay on egoistic consuption paths, although in later periods their behavior shifts in the direction of consumption paths leading to equal payoffs.