Do Collectivistic and Individualistic Institutions Make People Different? Field Experimental Evidence from the Last People’s Commune in China

Abstract

Mainland China underwent significant institutional changes in the 1980s, when most villages transitioned from collectivism to individualism. As one of the exceptions, Yakou Village is called "the last people's commune in China". Conducting a lab-in-field experiment, we compared the social and economic behaviors of the villagers in Yakou and of those in its neighboring individualistic village, Pansha. We found significant differences in behaviors between collectivistic and individualistic adult villagers. Collectivistic villagers are more altruistic, trustful, and cooperative but are less competitive and exhibit higher time preferences than individualistic villagers. Interestingly, the behavioral differences are not observed in their children.

Keywords: collectivism, individualism, institution, moral, market, field experiment

JEL Classification: C93, D91, P20