Hostname: page-component-cb9f654ff-5jtmz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-08-23T07:59:34.780Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Investing in institutions for cooperation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 January 2025

Alexander Smith Open the ORCID record for Alexander Smith [Opens in a new window]  and
Xi Wen
Alexander Smith*
Affiliation:
Department of Social Science and Policy Studies (SSPS), Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), 100 Institute Road, Worcester, MA 01609, USA
Xi Wen
Affiliation:
Department of Social Science and Policy Studies (SSPS), Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), 100 Institute Road, Worcester, MA 01609, USA
*
e-mail: adksmith@wpi.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

We examine the effects of endogenizing contribution productivity in a repeated public good game. In our experimental treatment, subjects collectively decide (by voting) how much to invest in augmenting the technology for producing the public good, and subsequently make individual voluntary contributions to provision. In the control, contribution productivity is exogenous. Contributions in the two treatments are similar.

Keywords

Public good gamesEndogenous institutionsProduction technologyContribution productivity

JEL classification

H41: Public Goods C91: Laboratory, Individual Behavior C71: Cooperative Games C92: Laboratory, Group Behavior

Information

Type
Original Paper
Information
Journal of the Economic Science Association , Volume 3 , Issue 1 , July 2017 , pp. 75 - 87
Copyright
Copyright © Economic Science Association 2017

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

Footnotes

Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s40881-017-0033-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

References

Ashley, R., Ball, S., Eckel, C. (2010). Motives for giving: A reanalysis of two classic public goods experiments. Southern Economic Journal, 77(1), 15–26. 10.4284/sej.2010.77.1.15CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chaudhuri, A. (2011). Sustaining cooperation in laboratory public goods experiments: A selective survey of the literature. Experimental Economics, 14(1), 47–83. 10.1007/s10683-010-9257-1CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dal Bo, P., Foster, A., Putterman, L. (2010). Institutions and behavior: Experimental evidence on the effects of democracy. American Economic Review, 100(5), 2205–2229. 10.1257/aer.100.5.2205Google Scholar
Ertan, A., Page, T., Putterman, L. (2009). Who to punish? Individual decisions and majority rule in mitigating the free rider problem. European Economic Review, 53(5), 495–511. 10.1016/j.euroecorev.2008.09.007CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fischbacher, U. (2007). z-Tree: Zurich toolbox for ready-made economic experiments. Experimental Economics, 10(2), 171–178. 10.1007/s10683-006-9159-4CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gangadharan, L., Nikiforakis, N. (2009). Does the size of the action set matter for cooperation? Economics Letters, 104(3), 115–117. 10.1016/j.econlet.2009.04.023CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gurerk, O., Irlenbusch, B., Rockenbach, B. (2006). The competitive advantage of sanctioning institutions. Science, 312(5770), 108–111. 10.1126/science.1123633CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Isaac, R. M., Norton, D. (2013). Endogenous institutions and the possibility of reverse crowding out. Public Choice, 156(1–2), 253–284. 10.1007/s11127-011-9897-5CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Isaac, R. M., Walker, J. (1988). Group size effects in public goods provision: The voluntary contributions mechanism. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 101(1), 179–199. 10.2307/1882648CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Isaac, R. M., Walker, J., Thomas, S. (1984). Divergent evidence on free riding: An experimental examination of possible explanations. Public Choice, 43(2), 113–149. 10.1007/BF00140829CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kingsley, D., Brown, T. (2016). Endogenous and costly institutional deterrence in a public good experiment. Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics, 62(1), 33–41. 10.1016/j.socec.2016.03.005CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kosfeld, M., Okada, A., Riedl, A. (2009). Institution formation in public goods games. American Economic Review, 99(4), 1335–1355. 10.1257/aer.99.4.1335CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ledyard, J., & Kagel, J., Roth, A. (1995). Public goods: A survey of experimental research Handbook of Experimental Economics, Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Markussen, T., Putterman, L., Tyran, J.-R. (2014). Self-organization for collective action: An experimental study of voting on formal, informal and no sanction regimes. Review of Economic Studies, 81(1), 301–324. 10.1093/restud/rdt022CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marwell, G., Ames, R. (1979). Experiments on the provision of public goods 1: Resources, interest, group size, and the free-rider problem. American Journal of Sociology, 84(6), 1335–1360. 10.1086/226937CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Norton, D., Isaac, R. M., & Isaac, R. M., Norton, D. (2010). Endogenous production technology in a public goods enterprise Research in Experimental Economics. Charity with Choice, 13Boston: Emerald.Google Scholar
Putterman, L., Tyran, J.-R., Kamei, K. (2011). Public goods and voting on formal sanction schemes. Journal of Public Economics, 95(9–10), 1213–1222. 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2011.05.001CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, A. (2012). Comment on social preferences, beliefs, and the dynamics of free riding in public good experiments. Economics Bulletin, 32(1), 923–931.Google Scholar
Smith, A. (2013). Estimating the causal effect of beliefs on contributions in repeated public good games. Experimental Economics, 16(3), 414–425. 10.1007/s10683-012-9345-5CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, A. (2015). Contribution heterogeneity and the dynamics of contributions in repeated public good games. Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics, 58(1), 149–157. 10.1016/j.socec.2015.08.005CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sutter, M., Haigner, S., Kocher, M. (2010). Choosing the carrot or the stick? Endogenous institutional choice in social dilemma situations. Review of Economic Studies, 77(4), 1540–1566. 10.1111/j.1467-937X.2010.00608.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tyran, J.-R., Feld, L. (2006). Achieving compliance when legal sanctions are non-deterrent. Scandinavian Journal of Economics, 108(1), 135–156. 10.1111/j.1467-9442.2006.00444.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Smith and Wen supplementary material

Smith and Wen supplementary material
Download Smith and Wen supplementary material(File)
File 1.2 MB