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One bad apple? Heterogeneity and information in public good provision

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  • Angela Oliveira
  • Rachel Croson
  • Catherine Eckel

Abstract

Previous research demonstrates that individuals vary in their social preferences. Less well-understood is how group composition affects the behavior of different social preference types. Does one bad apple really spoil the bunch? This paper exogenously identifies experimental participants’ social preferences, then systematically assigns individuals to homogeneous or heterogeneous groups to examine the impact of ‘bad apples’ on cooperation and efficiency. Consistent with previous research, we find that groups with more selfish types achieve lower levels of efficiency. We identify two mechanisms for the effect. First, the selfish players contribute less. Second, selfish players induce lower contributions from the conditional cooperators, and this effect increases in the number of selfish players. These results are not sensitive to information about the distribution of types in the group. Copyright Economic Science Association 2015

Suggested Citation

  • Angela Oliveira & Rachel Croson & Catherine Eckel, 2015. "One bad apple? Heterogeneity and information in public good provision," Experimental Economics, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 18(1), pages 116-135, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:expeco:v:18:y:2015:i:1:p:116-135
    DOI: 10.1007/s10683-014-9412-1
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Public goods; Group composition; Cooperation; Social preference types; Heterogeneity; H41; C91;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H41 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Public Goods
    • C91 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Individual Behavior

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