Applied Economics Seminar Series. How social relationships shape group cooperation and its foundations: Evidence from randomly assigned real groups
Published: 3 November 2025
12 November 2025. Professor Simon Gächter, University of Nottingham
Professor Simon Gächter (University of Nottingham)
How social relationships shape group cooperation and its foundations: Evidence from randomly assigned real groups
Wednesday, 12 November 2025, 15:00–16:30
Room G56 (Seminar Room 1), Kelvin Hall
Abstract
Social relationships are ubiquitous but poorly understood in economic analysis. Here, we investigate how relationship closeness causally influences social preferences and cooperation in real groups using experimental games typically conducted under anonymity. Leveraging the randomized assignment of Swiss Army officer trainees to four-week training units, we measure relationship closeness with the “oneness” tool from social psychology. Our findings confirm that closeness causally develops as predicted by relationship psychology. The impact on social preferences is modest, but oneness significantly increases the likelihood of unconditional cooperation among close partners. Cooperation rates in social dilemma games are higher between close partners than distant ones. A simultaneous equation model reveals that oneness, social preferences, cooperative attitudes, and beliefs about others’ cooperation collectively drive cooperation. Our results highlight the distinct role of social relationships in fostering cooperation in the absence of strategic reasons to cooperate.
Biography
Simon Gaechter is a Professor of the Psychology of Economic Decision-Making in the School of Economics at the University of Nottingham. Prior to joining Nottingham in 2005 he worked at the Universities of Zurich and St. Gallen. His research interests are in experimental and behavioural economics, in particular on the topics of social preferences and voluntary cooperation using interdisciplinary perspectives. He is currently working on this second ERC Advanced Grant on the topic of "Behavioural Principles of Large-Scale Cooperation".
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First published: 3 November 2025