IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/apmaco/v390y2021ics0096300320305555.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Conditional cooperator enhances institutional punishment in public goods game

Author

Listed:
  • Zhang, Boyu
  • An, Xinmiao
  • Dong, Yali

Abstract

The role of incentive institutions on promoting cooperation in public goods game (PGG) has attracted much attention. Theoretical studies based on Nash equilibrium analysis predict that the punishment effect is often stronger than the reward effect. Although this result is confirmed by empirical studies, subjects do not always play these rational strategies. Recent experiments indicate that most subjects in PGGs are conditional cooperators who tend to contribute the group average. In this paper, we consider PGGs with three types of subjects, namely, cooperators, defectors, and conditional cooperators. Evolutionary game method is applied to investigate how conditional cooperators affect the effectiveness of different types of incentives. Overall, having conditional cooperators cannot lead to a higher contribution level in the standard PGG or the PGG with institutional rewards. However, they can enhance the effectiveness of institutional punishment, where a high contribution level can be maintained even for small punishments. As a consequence, in PGGs with conditional cooperators, punishment always leads to a higher contribution rate than do rewards. Numerical analysis indicates that this result is robust to errors in decision making.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhang, Boyu & An, Xinmiao & Dong, Yali, 2021. "Conditional cooperator enhances institutional punishment in public goods game," Applied Mathematics and Computation, Elsevier, vol. 390(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:apmaco:v:390:y:2021:i:c:s0096300320305555
    DOI: 10.1016/j.amc.2020.125600
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0096300320305555
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.amc.2020.125600?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Claudia Keser & Frans Van Winden, 2000. "Conditional Cooperation and Voluntary Contributions to Public Goods," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 102(1), pages 23-39, March.
    2. Urs Fischbacher & Simon Gachter, 2010. "Social Preferences, Beliefs, and the Dynamics of Free Riding in Public Goods Experiments," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 100(1), pages 541-556, March.
    3. Matthias Sutter & Stefan Haigner & Martin G. Kocher, 2010. "Choosing the Carrot or the Stick? Endogenous Institutional Choice in Social Dilemma Situations," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 77(4), pages 1540-1566.
    4. Fischbacher, Urs & Gachter, Simon & Fehr, Ernst, 2001. "Are people conditionally cooperative? Evidence from a public goods experiment," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 71(3), pages 397-404, June.
    5. Ananish Chaudhuri, 2011. "Sustaining cooperation in laboratory public goods experiments: a selective survey of the literature," Experimental Economics, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 14(1), pages 47-83, March.
    6. Putterman, Louis & Tyran, Jean-Robert & Kamei, Kenju, 2011. "Public goods and voting on formal sanction schemes," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(9-10), pages 1213-1222, October.
    7. Kamijo, Y. & Nihonsugi, T. & Takeuchi, A. & Funaki, Y., 2014. "Sustaining cooperation in social dilemmas: Comparison of centralized punishment institutions," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 180-195.
    8. Qin, Xiangdong & Wang, Siyu, 2013. "Using an exogenous mechanism to examine efficient probabilistic punishment," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 1-10.
    9. Martin A. Nowak & Akira Sasaki & Christine Taylor & Drew Fudenberg, 2004. "Emergence of cooperation and evolutionary stability in finite populations," Nature, Nature, vol. 428(6983), pages 646-650, April.
    10. Boyu Zhang & Cong Li & Hannelore Silva & Peter Bednarik & Karl Sigmund, 2014. "The evolution of sanctioning institutions: an experimental approach to the social contract," Experimental Economics, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 17(2), pages 285-303, June.
    11. Karen Evelyn Hauge & Kjell Arne Brekke & Karine Nyborg & Jo Thori Lind, 2019. "Sustaining cooperation through self-sorting: The good, the bad, and the conditional," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 116(12), pages 5299-5304, March.
    12. Andreoni, James & Gee, Laura K., 2012. "Gun for hire: Delegated enforcement and peer punishment in public goods provision," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(11), pages 1036-1046.
    13. repec:nas:journl:v:115:y:2018:p:9968-9973 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Karl Sigmund & Hannelore De Silva & Arne Traulsen & Christoph Hauert, 2010. "Social learning promotes institutions for governing the commons," Nature, Nature, vol. 466(7308), pages 861-863, August.
    15. Yang, Han-Xin & Chen, Xiaojie, 2018. "Promoting cooperation by punishing minority," Applied Mathematics and Computation, Elsevier, vol. 316(C), pages 460-466.
    16. He, Nanrong & Chen, Xiaojie & Szolnoki, Attila, 2019. "Central governance based on monitoring and reporting solves the collective-risk social dilemma," Applied Mathematics and Computation, Elsevier, vol. 347(C), pages 334-341.
    17. Yali Dong & Cong Li & Yi Tao & Boyu Zhang, 2015. "Evolution of Conformity in Social Dilemmas," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(9), pages 1-12, September.
    18. Isamu Okada & Hitoshi Yamamoto & Fujio Toriumi & Tatsuya Sasaki, 2015. "The Effect of Incentives and Meta-incentives on the Evolution of Cooperation," PLOS Computational Biology, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(5), pages 1-17, May.
    19. Shu, Feng & Liu, Yaojun & Liu, Xingwen & Zhou, Xiaobing, 2019. "Memory-based conformity enhances cooperation in social dilemmas," Applied Mathematics and Computation, Elsevier, vol. 346(C), pages 480-490.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Pi, Jinxiu & Yang, Guanghui & Tang, Wei & Yang, Hui, 2022. "Stochastically stable equilibria for evolutionary snowdrift games with time costs," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 604(C).
    2. Wang, Chaoqian & Szolnoki, Attila, 2022. "Involution game with spatio-temporal heterogeneity of social resources," Applied Mathematics and Computation, Elsevier, vol. 430(C).
    3. Wang, Chaoqian & Huang, Chaochao & Pan, Qiuhui & He, Mingfeng, 2022. "Modeling the social dilemma of involution on a square lattice," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    4. Huang, Yongchao & Wan, Siyi & Zheng, Junjun & Liu, Wenyi, 2023. "Evolution of cooperation in spatial public goods game with interactive diversity," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 621(C).
    5. Gao, Liyan & Pan, Qiuhui & He, Mingfeng, 2021. "Environmental-based defensive promotes cooperation in the prisoner’s dilemma game," Applied Mathematics and Computation, Elsevier, vol. 401(C).
    6. Zhang, Lulu & Pan, Qiuhui & He, Mingfeng, 2022. "The influence of donation behavior on the evolution of cooperation in social dilemma," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    7. Jin, Xing & Tao, Yuchen & Wang, Jingrui & Wang, Chao & Wang, Yongheng & Zhang, Zhouyang & Wang, Zhen, 2023. "Strategic use of payoff information in k-hop evolutionary Best-shot networked public goods game," Applied Mathematics and Computation, Elsevier, vol. 459(C).
    8. Zhu, Wenqiang & Pan, Qiuhui & Song, Sha & He, Mingfeng, 2023. "Effects of exposure-based reward and punishment on the evolution of cooperation in prisoner’s dilemma game," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 172(C).
    9. Fijnanda van Klingeren & Vincent Buskens, 2024. "Graduated sanctioning, endogenous institutions and sustainable cooperation in common-pool resources: An experimental test," Rationality and Society, , vol. 36(2), pages 183-229, May.
    10. Zhenghong Wu & Huan Huang & Qinghu Liao, 2021. "The study on the role of dedicators on promoting cooperation in public goods game," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(9), pages 1-17, September.
    11. Pan, Qiuhui & Wang, Yue & He, Mingfeng, 2022. "Impacts of special cooperation strategy with reward and punishment mechanism on cooperation evolution," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    12. Wang, Jianwei & Chen, Wei & Yu, Fengyuan & He, Jialu & Xu, Wenshu, 2022. "Wealth-based rule favors cooperation in costly public goods games when individual selection is inevitable," Applied Mathematics and Computation, Elsevier, vol. 414(C).
    13. Wang, Chaoqian & Huang, Chaochao, 2022. "Between local and global strategy updating in public goods game," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 606(C).
    14. Li, MingYuan & Kang, HongWei & Sun, XingPing & Shen, Yong & Chen, QingYi, 2022. "Replicator dynamics of public goods game with tax-based punishment," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 164(C).
    15. Liu, Linjie & Chen, Xiaojie, 2022. "Effects of interconnections among corruption, institutional punishment, and economic factors on the evolution of cooperation," Applied Mathematics and Computation, Elsevier, vol. 425(C).
    16. Bi, Yan & Yang, Hui, 2023. "Based on reputation consistent strategy times promotes cooperation in spatial prisoner’s dilemma game," Applied Mathematics and Computation, Elsevier, vol. 444(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kenju Kamei & Louis Putterman & Jean-Robert Tyran, 2015. "State or nature? Endogenous formal versus informal sanctions in the voluntary provision of public goods," Experimental Economics, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 18(1), pages 38-65, March.
    2. Hoeft, Leonard & Mill, Wladislaw, 2024. "Abuse of power," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 220(C), pages 305-324.
    3. KAMEI Kenju, 2022. "Self-regulatory Resources and Institutional Formation: A first experimental test," Discussion papers 22084, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    4. Simon Gaechter, 2014. "Human Pro-Social Motivation and the Maintenance of Social Order," CESifo Working Paper Series 4729, CESifo.
    5. Markussen, Thomas & Putterman, Louis & Tyran, Jean-Robert, 2016. "Judicial error and cooperation," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 372-388.
    6. Kamei, Kenju, 2024. "Self-regulatory resources and institutional formation: An experiment," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 222(C), pages 354-374.
    7. Kenju Kamei & Louis Putterman & Jean-Robert Tyran, 2019. "Civic Engagement as a Second-Order Public Good: The Cooperative Underpinnings of the Accountable State," Discussion Papers 19-10, University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics.
    8. Rustam Romaniuc & Gregory J. DeAngelo & Dimitri Dubois & Bryan C. McCannon, 2019. "Intergroup inequality and the breakdown of prosociality," Economics of Governance, Springer, vol. 20(3), pages 285-303, September.
    9. De Geest, Lawrence R. & Kingsley, David C., 2019. "Endowment heterogeneity, incomplete information & institutional choice in public good experiments," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    10. Kim, Jeongbin & Putterman, Louis & Zhang, Xinyi, 2022. "Trust, Beliefs and Cooperation: Excavating a Foundation of Strong Economies," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 147(C).
    11. Kamei, Kenju & Tabero, Katy, 2021. "The Individual-Team Discontinuity Effect on Institutional Choices: Experimental Evidence in Voluntary Public Goods Provision," MPRA Paper 112106, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Cobo-Reyes, Ramón & Katz, Gabriel & Meraglia, Simone, 2019. "Endogenous sanctioning institutions and migration patterns: Experimental evidence," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 158(C), pages 575-606.
    13. Philipp Schreck & Dominik Aaken & Karl Homann, 2020. "“There’s Life in the Old Dog Yet”: The Homo economicus model and its value for behavioral ethics," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 90(3), pages 401-425, April.
    14. Yali Dong & Cong Li & Yi Tao & Boyu Zhang, 2015. "Evolution of Conformity in Social Dilemmas," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(9), pages 1-12, September.
    15. Guido, Andrea & Robbett, Andrea & Romaniuc, Rustam, 2019. "Group formation and cooperation in social dilemmas: A survey and meta-analytic evidence," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 192-209.
    16. Kenju Kamei & Smriti Sharma & Matthew J. Walker, 2023. "Collective Sanction Enforcement: New Experimental Evidence from Two Societies," Keio-IES Discussion Paper Series 2023-014, Institute for Economics Studies, Keio University.
    17. Kohei Nitta, 2014. "The Effect of Income Heterogeneity in An Experiment with Global and Local Public Goods," Working Papers 201403, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Department of Economics.
    18. Martin G. Kocher & Fangfang Tan & Jing Yu, 2018. "Providing Global Public Goods: Electoral Delegation And Cooperation," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 56(1), pages 381-397, January.
    19. Drouvelis, Michalis & Marx, Benjamin M., 2022. "Can charitable appeals identify and exploit belief heterogeneity?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 198(C), pages 631-649.
    20. Michalis Drouvelis & Julian C. Jamison, 2015. "Selecting public goods institutions: Who likes to punish and reward?," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 82(2), pages 501-534, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:apmaco:v:390:y:2021:i:c:s0096300320305555. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/applied-mathematics-and-computation .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.