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When is punishment harmful to cooperation? A note on antisocial and perverse punishment

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  • Tingting Fu

    (Nankai University)

  • Louis Putterman

    (Brown University)

Abstract

Economists conducting laboratory experiments on cooperation and peer punishment find that a non-negligible minority of punishments is directed at cooperators rather than free riders. Such punishments have been categorized as ‘perverse’ or ‘antisocial,’ using definitions that partially overlap, but not entirely so. Which approach better identifies punishment that discourages cooperation? We analyze the data from 16 sites studied by Herrmann et al. (Science 319(5868):1362–1367, 2008) and find that when subjects are uninformed about who punished them, the recipient’s contribution relative to the group average (whether it is ‘perverse’) is a better predictor of negative impact on contribution than is her contribution relative to the punisher’s (whether it is ‘antisocial’). Regression estimates nevertheless suggest that punished subjects attempt to take relative contribution of punisher into account even if only by conjecture.

Suggested Citation

  • Tingting Fu & Louis Putterman, 2018. "When is punishment harmful to cooperation? A note on antisocial and perverse punishment," Journal of the Economic Science Association, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 4(2), pages 151-164, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:jesaex:v:4:y:2018:i:2:d:10.1007_s40881-018-0053-6
    DOI: 10.1007/s40881-018-0053-6
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Talbot M. Andrews, 2024. "Who punishes? A note on responses to cooperation and defection across cultures," Journal of the Economic Science Association, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 10(2), pages 603-608, December.
    2. Kamei, Kenju, 2024. "Self-regulatory resources and institutional formation: An experiment," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 222(C), pages 354-374.
    3. Ashley Harrell, 2019. "Group leaders establish cooperative norms that persist in subsequent interactions," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(9), pages 1-19, September.
    4. Bruhin, Adrian & Janizzi, Kelly & Thöni, Christian, 2020. "Uncovering the heterogeneity behind cross-cultural variation in antisocial punishment," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 180(C), pages 291-308.
    5. Thomas Markussen & Louis Putterman & Liangjun Wang, 2023. "Algorithmic Leviathan or Individual Choice: Choosing Sanctioning Regimes in the Face of Observational Error," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 90(357), pages 315-338, January.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Punishment; Cooperation; Experiment; Antisocial punishment; Perverse punishment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C9 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments
    • H41 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Public Goods
    • D03 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Behavioral Microeconomics: Underlying Principles

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