Security of Property as a Public Good: Institutions, Socio-Political Environment and Experimental Behavior in Five Countries

Francisco Campos-Ortiz (), Louis Putterman, T.K. Ahn (), Loukas Balafoutas, Mongoljin Batsaikhan () and Matthias Sutter
Additional contact information
Francisco Campos-Ortiz: Bank of Mexico
T.K. Ahn: Seoul National University

No 6982, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: We study experimentally the protection of property in five widely distinct countries – Austria, Mexico, Mongolia, South Korea and the United States. Our main results are that the security of property varies with experimental institutions, and that our subject pools exhibit significantly different behaviors that correlate with country-level property security, trust and quality of government. Subjects from countries with higher levels of trust or perceptions of safety are more prone to abstain initially from theft and devote more resources to production, and subjects from countries with higher quality political institutions are more supportive of protecting property through compulsory taxation. This highlights the relevance of socio-political factors in determining countries' success in addressing collective action problems including safeguarding property rights.

Keywords: experiment; efficiency; theft; property rights; socio-political factors (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C91 C92 D03 H41 P14 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 73 pages
Date: 2012-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cbe, nep-evo, nep-exp, nep-pbe and nep-pol
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Published - published in: Journal of Public Economics, 2016, 143, 115-124.

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Related works:
Working Paper: Security of Property as a Public Good: Institutions, Socio-Political Environment and Experimental Behavior in Five Countries (2012)
Working Paper: Security of Property as a Public Good: Institutions, Socio-Political Environment and Experimental Behavior in Five Countries (2012)
Working Paper: Security of property as a public good: Institutions, socio-political environment and experimental behavior in five countries (2012)
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