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Are conditional cooperators willing to forgo efficiency gains? Evidence from a public goods experiment

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  • M. Vittoria Levati
  • Matteo Ploner
  • Stefan Traub

Abstract

We use a two-person public goods experiment to investigate how much agents value conditional cooperation when symmetric positive contributions entail efficiency losses. Asymmetric marginal per capita returns allow only the high-productivity player to increase group payoffs when contributing positive amounts. Asymmetric contributions, however, yield unequal individual payoffs. To assess a priori cooperative preferences, we measure individual 'value-orientations' by means of the decomposed game technique. We find that contributions remain negligible throughout the experiment, suggesting that people are not willing to contribute positive amounts if this may lead to damage efficiency.

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  • M. Vittoria Levati & Matteo Ploner & Stefan Traub, 2011. "Are conditional cooperators willing to forgo efficiency gains? Evidence from a public goods experiment," New Zealand Economic Papers, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(1-2), pages 47-57.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:nzecpp:v:45:y:2011:i:1-2:p:47-57
    DOI: 10.1080/00779954.2011.556069
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    2. Johannes Abeler & Daniele Nosenzo, 2015. "Self-selection into laboratory experiments: pro-social motives versus monetary incentives," Experimental Economics, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 18(2), pages 195-214, June.

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