Salience, Coordination and Cooperation in Contributing to Threshold Public Goods

Luca Corazzini, Christopher Cotton, Paola Valbonesi
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Christopher Cotton, Paola Valbonesi and Luca Corazzini

No 44, ISLA Working Papers from ISLA, Centre for research on Latin American Studies and Transition Economies, Universita' Bocconi, Milano, Italy

Abstract: We present results from a multiple public goods experiment, where each public good produces benefits only if total contributions to it reach a minimum threshold. The experiment allows us to compare subjects' behavior in a benchmark treatment with a single public good and in treatments with more public goods than can be funded. We show how the availability of additional, more-efficient public goods may not make subjects better off. This is because additional options decrease the probability of coordination and discourage contributions. Introducing additional, less-efficient options does not alter coordination and contributions relative to the benchmark.

Keywords: threshold public goods; multiple public goods; salience; efficiency; laboratory experiment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C91 C92 H40 H41 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 27 pages
Date: 2012-05
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cbe, nep-evo, nep-exp, nep-gth and nep-pbe
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