Cooperation and Authoritarian Values: An experimental study in China

Björn Vollan, Yexin Zhou, Andreas Landmann (), Biliang Hu () and Carsten Herrmann-Pillath

Working Papers from Faculty of Economics and Statistics, Universität Innsbruck

Abstract: There is ample evidence of a ''democracy premium''. Using field data and laboratory experiments, it has been observed that democratic governance leads to more cooperative behavior compared to a non-democratic approach. We present evidence from Chinese students and workers who participated in public goods experiments and a value survey. We find a premium for top-down rule implementation arguably stemming from people with stronger individual values for obeying authorities. When participants have higher values for obeying authorities, they even conform to unfavorable rules. Our findings provide evidence that the effectiveness of a political institution depends on its congruence with individual values and societal norms.

Keywords: legitimacy of legal sanctions; authoritarian values; democratic voting; public goods; China (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A13 C92 D02 D72 H41 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 93
Date: 2013-06, Revised 2015-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cbe, nep-cdm, nep-evo, nep-exp, nep-pbe, nep-pol, nep-soc and nep-tra
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Journal Article: Cooperation and authoritarian values: An experimental study in China (2017)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:inn:wpaper:2013-14

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