Kinship, Social Preferences and Voting in Rural China : A Lab-in-The-Field Experiment

Economists have come to understand that human choices are not only driven by self-interest but also “social preferences” – a person’s concern over resources allocated to other people. Moreover, such preferences may be affected by the environment in which such choices are made, especially social networks and social pressure. We performed a lab-in-the-field experiment in rural China, where we recruited 162 Chinese farmers to vote in 7 variants of allocation games in randomly assigned groups and with real-world social contacts, with and without pressure. We find that social network and social pressure combined have significant yet heterogeneous effects on social preferences. The source of heterogeneity includes the assignment with in-group or out-group members, membership in dominant lineages, individual characteristics as defined by age and gender, and the degree of kinship between individuals within a social group. Our study not only provides empirical evidence for the social preference theories but also urges policy makers to be careful in choosing an appropriate voting method. In addition, constraining the power of dominant lineage and having better educated villagers more involved in village affairs could be welfare improving