New Research In
Physical Sciences
Social Sciences
Featured Portals
Articles by Topic
Biological Sciences
Featured Portals
Articles by Topic
- Agricultural Sciences
- Anthropology
- Applied Biological Sciences
- Biochemistry
- Biophysics and Computational Biology
- Cell Biology
- Developmental Biology
- Ecology
- Environmental Sciences
- Evolution
- Genetics
- Immunology and Inflammation
- Medical Sciences
- Microbiology
- Neuroscience
- Pharmacology
- Physiology
- Plant Biology
- Population Biology
- Psychological and Cognitive Sciences
- Sustainability Science
- Systems Biology
Recordkeeping alters economic history by promoting reciprocity
Communicated by Vernon L. Smith, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, December 3, 2008 (received for review November 8, 2007)

Abstract
We experimentally demonstrate a causal link between recordkeeping and reciprocal exchange. Recordkeeping improves memory of past interactions in a complex exchange environment, which promotes reputation formation and decision coordination. Economies with recordkeeping exhibit a beneficially altered economic history where the risks of exchanging with strangers are substantially lessened. Our findings are consistent with prior assertions that complex and extensive reciprocity requires sophisticated memory to store information on past transactions. We offer insights on this research by scientifically demonstrating that reciprocity can be facilitated by information storage external to the brain. This is consistent with the archaeological record, which suggests that prehistoric transaction records and the invention of writing for recordkeeping were linked to increased complexity in human interaction.
Footnotes
- 1To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: gregory_waymire{at}bus.emory.edu
Author contributions: S.B., J.D., G.H., K.T., and G.W. designed research, performed research, analyzed data, and wrote the paper.
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Freely available online through the PNAS open access option.
- © 2009 by The National Academy of Sciences of the USA