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Doing good or doing harm: experimental evidence on giving and taking in public good games

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  • Menusch Khadjavi
  • Andreas Lange

Abstract

We replicate Andreoni (Quarterly Journal of Economics 110: 1–21, 1995 )’s finding that agents behave more selfishly when taking from a public account than when giving to a public good. Based on a neutral language setting we add new insights into motivations to give or take in a linear public good setting: we find that Andreoni’s result is partly driven by the complete elimination of giving options in the taking frame. However, a pure extension of the action space into the taking domain also leads to a significant increase in selfish behavior. Copyright Economic Science Association 2015

Suggested Citation

  • Menusch Khadjavi & Andreas Lange, 2015. "Doing good or doing harm: experimental evidence on giving and taking in public good games," Experimental Economics, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 18(3), pages 432-441, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:expeco:v:18:y:2015:i:3:p:432-441
    DOI: 10.1007/s10683-014-9411-2
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Public good; Voluntary provision; Taking; Experiments; 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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