Altruistic behavior and social influence in the dictator game

We run Dictators experiments in Southern Italy, a western country with a matrilineal culture, introducing - at the same time- social influence in the design. Our goal is to test whether the institutional culture and the role women have in the society are important factors in determining gender differences in altruism and generosity, compared to the different responses of men and women to social influence and "social clues" (Croson and Gneezy, 2009). We find more support to the hypothesis on the cultural role in shaping preferences, rather than the effects of social influence.