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Sustaining cooperation through self-sorting: The good, the bad, and the conditional

Author

Listed:
  • Karen Evelyn Hauge

    (Ragnar Frisch Centre for Economic Research, N-0347 Oslo, Norway)

  • Kjell Arne Brekke

    (Department of Economics, University of Oslo, N-0033 Oslo, Norway)

  • Karine Nyborg

    (Department of Economics, University of Oslo, N-0033 Oslo, Norway)

  • Jo Thori Lind

    (Department of Economics, University of Oslo, N-0033 Oslo, Norway)

Abstract

In four public-good game experiments, we study self-sorting as a means to facilitate cooperation in groups. When individuals can choose to join groups precommitted to charity, such groups sustain cooperation toward the group’s local public good. By eliciting subjects’ conditional contribution profiles, we find that subjects who prefer the charity groups have higher average conditional contribution levels but do not differ with respect to the slope of their profiles. The majority of subjects in both group types are conditional cooperators whose willingness to contribute is stimulated by generous group members but undermined by free-riders. Charity groups thus seem better able to sustain cooperation because they attract a greater number of more generous individuals, triggering generous responses by conditional cooperators.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:nas:journl:v:116:y:2019:p:5299-5304
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Raja R Timilsina & Yutaka Kobayashi & Koji Kotani, 2022. "Non-kinship successors for resource sustainability," Working Papers SDES-2022-2, Kochi University of Technology, School of Economics and Management, revised Jan 2022.
    2. Zhang, Boyu & An, Xinmiao & Dong, Yali, 2021. "Conditional cooperator enhances institutional punishment in public goods game," Applied Mathematics and Computation, Elsevier, vol. 390(C).
    3. Timilsina, Raja R. & Kotani, Koji & Nakagawa, Yoshinori & Saijo, Tatsuyoshi, 2022. "Intragenerational deliberation and intergenerational sustainability dilemma," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    4. Zhao, Jinhua & Wang, Xianjia & Niu, Lei & Gu, Cuiling, 2021. "Environmental feedback and cooperation in climate change dilemma," Applied Mathematics and Computation, Elsevier, vol. 397(C).
    5. Felix Kölle & Simone Quercia & Egon Tripodi, 2023. "Social Preferences under the Shadow of the Future," Rationality and Competition Discussion Paper Series 406, CRC TRR 190 Rationality and Competition.
    6. Serdarevic, Nina & Strømland, Eirik & Tjøtta, Sigve, 2021. "It pays to be nice: The benefits of cooperating in markets," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    7. Jiao, Yuhang & Chen, Tong & Chen, Qiao, 2020. "The impact of expressing willingness to cooperate on cooperation in public goods game," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    8. Xin-Jie Zhang & Yong Tang & Jason Xiong & Wei-Jia Wang & Yi-Cheng Zhang, 2018. "Dynamics of Cooperation in Minority Games in Alliance Networks," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-17, December.
    9. Geng, Yini & Liu, Yifan & Lu, Yikang & Shen, Chen & Shi, Lei, 2022. "Reinforcement learning explains various conditional cooperation," Applied Mathematics and Computation, Elsevier, vol. 427(C).

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