Preferences and Perceptions in Provision and Maintenance Public Goods

Simon Gächter, Felix Kölle and Simone Quercia

No 15322, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: We study two generic versions of public goods problems: in Provision problems, the public good does not exist initially and needs to be provided; in Maintenance problems, the public good already exists and needs to be maintained. In five lab and online experiments (n=2,584), we document a robust asymmetry in preferences and perceptions in two incentive-equivalent versions of these public good problems. We find fewer conditional cooperators and more free riders in Maintenance than Provision, a difference that is replicable, stable, and reflected in perceptions of kindness. Incentivized control questions administered before gameplay reveal dilemma-specific misperceptions but controlling for them neither eliminates game-dependent conditional cooperation, nor differences in perceived kindness of others' cooperation. Thus, even when sharing the same game form, Maintenance and Provision are different social dilemmas that require separate behavioral analyses. Despite some inconsistencies, a theory of revealed altruism comes closest to explaining our results.

Keywords: experiments; misperceptions; maintenance and provision social dilemmas; conditional cooperation; kindness; revealed altruism (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C92 H41 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 74 pages
Date: 2022-05
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cbe, nep-exp, nep-gth and nep-pub
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (20)

Published - revised version published in: Games and Economic Behavior , 2022, 135, 338-355.

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Related works:
Journal Article: Preferences and perceptions in Provision and Maintenance public goods (2022)
Working Paper: Preferences and Perceptions in Provision and Maintenance Public Goods (2022)
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