Conditioning on what? Heterogeneous contributions and conditional cooperation

Björn Hartig, Bernd Irlenbusch and Felix Kölle

Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), 2015, vol. 55, issue C, 48-64

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; Experiments (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C72 C91 H41 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (13)

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Working Paper: Conditioning on What? Heterogeneous Contributions and Conditional Cooperation (2014)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:soceco:v:55:y:2015:i:c:p:48-64

DOI: 10.1016/j.socec.2015.01.001

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