Andrzej Baranski (NYU Abu Dhabi)

 Prevalence and Predictors of Exclusionary Behavior Across the Six Inhabited

Abstract: Primates are known to engage in exclusionary behavior in which a group of individuals may form an alliance to block a minority from sharing resources. Humans are no exception, as examples of exclusionary behavior abound in political, business, and social settings. Despite its socioeconomic relevance, little is known about the prevalence and determinants of such behavior. We conduct an experiment in 14 countries and are the first to document considerable global heterogeneity in exclusionary behavior; it is modal in some countries, yet in others inclusive behavior is the norm. Cross-country differences in the formation of exclusionary alliances correlate strongly with a measure of acceptance of power inequalities, highlighting a key role for culture. However, even in the presence of cross-cultural variability, we observe that individual-level characteristics matter similarly across contexts with men and those with high strategic reasoning abilities, and politically right-leaning individuals are consistently and substantially more exclusionary. These findings have important implications for collective decision-making settings, as they suggest that the identity of decision-makers and the culture in which they are embedded have a large impact on the sharing of resources.