Conditioning on What? Heterogeneous Contributions and Conditional Cooperation

Bjoern Hartig (), Bernd Irlenbusch () and Felix Koelle ()
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Bjoern Hartig: Royal Holloway, University of London, Department of Economics
Bernd Irlenbusch: University of Cologne, Department of Corporate Development and Business Ethics
Felix Koelle: University of Nottingham, School of Economics
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Felix Kölle

No 2014-12, Discussion Papers from The Centre for Decision Research and Experimental Economics, School of Economics, University of Nottingham

Abstract: We experimentally investigate how different information about others’ individual contributions affects conditional cooperators’ willingness to cooperate in a one-shot linear public goods game. We find that when information about individual contributions is provided, contributions are generally higher than when only average information is available. This effect is particularly strong when others’ individual contributions are relatively homogeneous. When both types of information are provided, this effect is moderated. In the case of individual feedback we find the willingness to contribute to be higher the lower the variation in others' contributions, but with pronounced heterogeneity in individuals’ reactions. While the majority of conditional cooperators’ are mainly guided by others’ average contributions, more people follow the bad example of a low contributor than the good example of a high contributor. Overall, we provide evidence that information (and lack thereof) about others’ individual contributions affects conditional cooperators’ willingness to cooperate in systematic ways.

Keywords: Conditional cooperation; Information; Heterogeneity; Public goods (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cdm and nep-exp
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Journal Article: Conditioning on what? Heterogeneous contributions and conditional cooperation (2015)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:not:notcdx:2014-12

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