One Step at a Time: Does Gradualism Build Coordination?

Sam Asher (), Lorenzo Casaburi and Plamen Nikolov

No 1113, Working Papers from University of Namur, Department of Economics

Abstract: We study how gradualism -- increasing required levels (“thresholds”) of contributions slowly over time rather than requiring a high level of contribution immediately -- affects individuals’ decisions to contribute to a public project. Using a laboratory binary choice minimum-effort coordination game, we randomly assign participants to three treatments: starting and continuing at a high threshold, starting at a low threshold but jumping to a high threshold after a few periods, and starting at a low threshold and gradually increasing the threshold over time (the “gradualism” treatment). We find that individuals coordinate most successfully at the high threshold in the gradualism treatment relative to the other two groups. We propose a theory based on belief updating to explain why gradualism works. We also discuss alternative explanations such as reinforcement learning, conditional cooperation, inertia, preference for consistency, and limited attention. Our findings point to a simple, voluntary mechanism to promote successful coordination when the capacity to impose sanctions is limited.

Keywords: Gradualism; Coordination; Cooperation; Public Goods; Belief-based Learning; Laboratory Experiment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 52 pages
Date: 2011-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cbe, nep-evo, nep-exp and nep-mic
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.fundp.ac.be/eco/economie/recherche/wpseries/wp/1113.pdf First version, 2011 (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: One Step at a Time: Does Gradualism Build Coordination? (2020)
Working Paper: One Step at a Time: Does Gradualism Build Coordination? (2020)
Working Paper: One Step at a Time: Does Gradualism Build Coordination? (2019)
Working Paper: One step at a time: Does gradualism build coordination? (2010)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nam:wpaper:1113

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Working Papers from University of Namur, Department of Economics Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by François-Xavier Ledru ().