Human economic choices are influenced by genes

From an economic game

An international team of researchers has for the first time demonstrated the effect of genes on human behavioral choices and economic decisions through an experiment with economic play.

Traditionally, social scientists often hesitate to acknowledge the role of genes in explaining economic behavior. But a recent study by David Cesarini, an MIT graduate student and colleagues from Sweden has shown that genetic factors make up what people perceive to be reasonable & irrational.

This experiment was published on October 1 in the Journal of the US National Academy of Sciences.

David Cesarini , author of the study, points out that genetic factors constitute what people perceive to be reasonable and irrational. (Photo: web.mit.edu)

The game is as follows: 2 participants share a bonus that is not related to individual contributions & they must agree on the share received by each person. The basic principle of a game is that one of them will propose a method to divide the money & the other must have an answer, there will be only one proposal so only one answer is yes or no I mean. If this proposal is not selected by the other person, both will not receive anything.

By rejecting the game, it means that the reward is nothing for both of them.The theory of personal self-interest predicts that the respondents in the experiment will accept any money greater than zero for themselves and not receive anything . But the results of the lab study indicate that even if they are given money, the recipients still refuse if they find that the sharing is not fair .

Go to a new branch in economics

Cesarini said: 'Compared to the general environmental influences such as teaching, the effects of genetics are considered important factors in the way people decide'.

Bjorn Wallace, the head of the experiment team from the Stockholm School of Economics, said: 'The significant genetic effects must be a problem that triggers our greater interest in fish economic choices. multiply '.

Studying the dominant genes in this game, Cesarini and colleagues conducted experiments on twins selected from the Swedish twins directory. Accordingly, researchers control each situation in detail. Because twins with the same eggs will have the same genes, other twins do not have this. The researchers were able to detect the effect of the gene by comparing the similarity between twins and eggs & other twins involved in the experiment.

The researchers concluded that the genetic effect accounted for 40% of the variations that participants reacted to unreasonable offers while dividing the money . In another comment, the researchers point out that twins and eggs have better money than other twins .

© Nam Hy Hoang Phong - Email: eduvietnam@yahoo.de.Translated from Genes article influence people's choices in economics, Greg Frost, MIT News - October 1, 2007.