The following questions are based on academic papers published in peer-reviewed journals. For each
research article, please read the abstract, introduction, and conclusion. Then try to identify the relevant
parts of the paper to skim over when answering each question. You do not need to understand the econo-
metric methodologies (e.g., regression discontinuity design) applied in any of these papers. You also are not
expected to read the full paper in detail. You do not need to memorize any numerical results but focus on
understanding the big-picture approach taken by the researchers to tackle their questions.
1. Assem et al. (2012) examine cooperative behavior on a television game show where contestants can
either split or steal a large sum of money. Please refer to the research paper and answer the following
questions.
(a) Suppose 20, 000 dollars are at stake. Represent the split or steal game using a payoff matrix.
(b) Would both people splitting (split, split) be a Nash Equilibrium? If not, then what is the Nash
Equilibrium?
(c) Do males and females have the same tendency to cooperate and split the money on the show?
(d) Briefly explain what is being depicted in Figure 2 of the paper. Does cooperation vary with the
stakes?
(e) What does it mean that people have reciprocal preferences?
(f) The authors argue how their results might have been affected by the fact the decision between
cooperating and not-cooperating. How could it affect the preferences of the participants?
(g) How does being a student affect the probability of the contestant desire to split?
(h) What kind of insight are the authors expecting to get when examining a game show with large
potential payoffs comparing to a lab experiment?
(i) The scenario in the game-show Golden Balls is similar to a famous game theory concept, what is
it called?