The Good Samaritan and Traffic on the Road to Jericho

Ted Bergstrom ()

American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, 2017, vol. 9, issue 2, 33-53

Abstract: This paper studies a version of the Volunteer's Dilemma in which players sequentially observe someone in trouble and decide whether to help. Where preferences are identical, we show that if the frequency with which potential helpers appear is above some threshold, then as frequency of appearance increases, the probability that any individual stops diminishes, but the expected waiting time for help to appear is constant. Where costs of stopping differ among individuals, as the frequency of appearance increases, the expected waiting time for help to appear decreases, even though the probability that any individual stops diminishes.

JEL-codes: D62 D63 D64 H41 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
Note: DOI: 10.1257/mic.20150296
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

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