Putting Yourself in Someone Else's Shoes. Order of Play and Consistent Behavior in the Ultimatum Game

In this paper, we devised a randomized experiment, administered to two samples of subjects representative of the entire Italian adult population, to test whether the order of play in two Ultimatum Games influences t he c hoice o f p layers, a nd t he o utcome o f t he g ame. We find that, in the second game, Proposers increase the average share sent and Responders reduce the MAO (minimum acceptable offer). Both effects increase the probability of reaching a nonzero equilibrium. Since players are not aware of any results during the games, we propose that “projection bias” may play a role in increasing the players’ awareness of their partner’s preferences, desired outcomes, and strategies. This increased awareness could then affect the players’ behavior and ultimately the equilibria in the second game