CULTURE AND COMPETITION - A LABORATORY MARKET COMPARISON BETWEEN CHINA AND THE WEST

Twenty laboratory markets (160 subjects) were conducted to measure the influences on competitive economic behavior of: (1) political and ethnic culture; (2) information regarding the profits earned by others; and (3) interaction between (1) and (2). The market design maximized the distance between the competitive equilibrium prediction and the equitable division of profits between traders. Isolated cultural differences were noted in price convergence trends. However, these isolated trend differences are overshadowed by a close cultural similarity in price levels across market periods. The data of this study therefore provide evidence that the competitiveness observed in several prior laboratory market studies persists even in a markedly different culture.