Are cooperators effciency- or fair-minded? Evidence from a public goods experiment

Maria Levati, Matteo Ploner and Stefan Traub ()

No 2007-067, Jena Economics Research Papers from Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena

Abstract: We use a two-person public goods experiment to distinguish between efficiency and fairness as possible motivations for cooperative behavior. Asymmetric marginal per capita returns allow only the high-productivity player to increase group payoffs when contributing positive amounts. Asymmetric contributions, however, yield unequal individual payoffs. To assess a priori cooperative preferences, we measure individual 'value-orientations' by means of the decomposed game technique. Overall, our results indicate that fairness (or inequality aversion) is more influential than efficiency in driving behavior.

Keywords: Public goods experiments; Conditional cooperation; Fairness; Efficiency; Value orientations (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A13 C92 D63 H41 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2007-09-20
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cbe, nep-exp, nep-gth, nep-pbe and nep-soc
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:jrp:jrpwrp:2007-067

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