IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/gamebe/v150y2025icp198-214.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Endogenous network formation in local public goods: An experimental analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Chen, Ying
  • Lane, Tom
  • McDonald, Stuart

Abstract

We experimentally explore public good production levels and the endogenous formation of network structures to facilitate output sharing among agents with heterogeneous production costs and consumption valuations. Results corroborate the key theoretical insights of Kinateder and Merlino (2017) characterizing how agents form core-periphery networks. However, subjects often produce more and form denser networks than predicted, which sometimes reduces efficiency. There is some tendency for behaviour to converge towards the theoretical equilibrium over repeated play. Our results help us understand the emergence of the law of the few in real-world networks, and suggest it is driven by endogenous sorting of heterogeneous agents.

Suggested Citation

  • Chen, Ying & Lane, Tom & McDonald, Stuart, 2025. "Endogenous network formation in local public goods: An experimental analysis," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 198-214.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:gamebe:v:150:y:2025:i:c:p:198-214
    DOI: 10.1016/j.geb.2024.10.004
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0899825624001507
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.geb.2024.10.004?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.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Local public goods; Network formation; Experiment; Heterogeneity;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C92 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Group Behavior
    • D85 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Network Formation
    • H41 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Public Goods

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:gamebe:v:150:y:2025:i:c:p:198-214. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/622836 .

    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.