Altruism and voluntary provision of public goods

Katerina Sherstyuk, Oliver Hill (), Malcolm Dowling () and Leanne Ma ()
Additional contact information
Oliver Hill: Department of Psychology, Virginia State University
Malcolm Dowling: Department of Economics, University of Melbourne
Leanne Ma: Department of Economics, University of Melbourne

Economics Bulletin, 2002, vol. 3, issue 31, 1-8

Abstract: We study how people's predisposition towards altruism affects their behavior in a voluntary contributions public good experiment. We investigate whether a high level of contributions can be sustained in groups of subjects who have been pre-selected on the basis of their altruistic inclinations. In the first stage of the experiment, each subject responds to a psychology questionnaire that measures various dimensions of one''s personality. The subjects are then matched in groups according to their altruism scores, and engage in a voluntary contributions game. We consider whether the levels and dynamics of group contributions differ significantly between the groups with altruists and non-altruists. We find that subjects'' altruism has only a weak positive effect on group behavior in the public good game.

Keywords: Altruism (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C9 H4 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2002-12-18
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Altruism and Voluntary Provision of Public Goods (2000)
Working Paper: Altruism and Voluntary Provision of Public Goods (2000)
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