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The Effect of Conflict History on Cooperation Within and Between Groups: Evidence from a Laboratory Experiment

Author

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  • Goone Beekman

    (Wageningen University, Development Economics Group, P.O. Box 8130, 6700 EW Wageningen, Netherlands)

  • Stephen Cheung

    (The University of Sydney, School of Economics, Merewether Building H04, Sydney NSW 2006, Australia)

  • Ian Levely

    (Institute of Economic Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University in Prague, Smetanovo nábreží 6, 111 01 Prague 1, Czech Republic)

Abstract

We study cooperation within and between groups in the laboratory, comparing treatments in which two groups have previously been (i) in conflict with one another, (ii) in conflict with a different group, or (iii) not previously exposed to con flict. We model conflict using an inter-group Tullock contest, and measure its effects upon cooperation using a multi-level public good game. We demonstrate that con flict increases cooperation within groups, while decreasing cooperation between groups. Moreover, we find that cooperation between groups increases in response to an increase in the effciency gains from cooperation only when the two groups have not previously interacted.

Suggested Citation

  • Goone Beekman & Stephen Cheung & Ian Levely, 2015. "The Effect of Conflict History on Cooperation Within and Between Groups: Evidence from a Laboratory Experiment," Working Papers IES 2015/16, Charles University Prague, Faculty of Social Sciences, Institute of Economic Studies, revised Jun 2015.
    • Handle: RePEc:fau:wpaper:wp2015_16
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    3. Justin Ehrlich & Matthew Harmon & Shane Sanders, 2020. "The alliance formation puzzle in contests with capacity-constraints: A test using American football reception-coverage contest data," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(3), pages 1-13, March.
    4. Gross, Jörg & De Dreu, Carsten K.W. & Reddmann, Lennart, 2022. "Shadow of conflict: How past conflict influences group cooperation and the use of punishment," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 171(C).
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    8. Catola, Marco & D’Alessandro, Simone & Guarnieri, Pietro & Pizziol, Veronica, 2023. "Multilevel public goods game: Levelling up, substitution and crowding-in effects," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    9. Gallier, Carlo & Goeschl, Timo & Kesternich, Martin & Lohse, Johannes & Reif, Christiane & Römer, Daniel, 2019. "Leveling up? An inter-neighborhood experiment on parochialism and the efficiency of multi-level public goods provision," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 164(C), pages 500-517.
    10. Tilman Brück & Neil T N Ferguson & Valeria Izzi & Wolfgang Stojetz, 2021. "Can Jobs Programs Build Peace? [Intergroup Conflict and Intra-Group Punishment in an Experimental Contest Game]," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 36(2), pages 234-259.
    11. De Geest, Lawrence R. & Kidwai, Abdul H. & Portillo, Javier E., 2022. "Ours, not yours: Property rights, poaching and deterrence in common-pool resources," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    12. Ferguson, Neil T.N. & Leroch, Martin Alois, 2023. "On the behavioral impacts of violence: Evidence from incentivized games in Kenya," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    13. Bartoš, Vojtěch & Levely, Ian, 2021. "Sanctioning and trustworthiness across ethnic groups: Experimental evidence from Afghanistan," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 194(C).
    14. Ferguson, Neil T.N. & Nillesen, Eleonora & Brück, Tilman, 2019. "Can employment build peace? A pseudo-meta-analysis of employment programmes in Africa," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 180(C), pages 99-101.
    15. Zou, Wenbo & Wang, Jinjie & Yan, Jubo, 2022. "Online markets and trust," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 201(C), pages 395-412.
    16. Steven Jacob Bosworth & Simon Bartke, 2019. "Cross-task spillovers in workplace teams: Motivation vs. learning," Economics Discussion Papers em-dp2019-15, Department of Economics, University of Reading.
    17. Yansong Li & Zhenliang Liu & Yuqian Wang & Edmund Derrington & Frederic Moisan & Jean-Claude Dreher, 2023. "Spillover effects of competition outcome on future risky cooperation," Post-Print hal-04325682, HAL.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    within- and between-group cooperation; inter-group confl ict; group identity; multi-level public good experiment; Tullock contest; other-regarding preferences;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C92 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Group Behavior
    • D64 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Altruism; Philanthropy; Intergenerational Transfers
    • D74 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Conflict; Conflict Resolution; Alliances; Revolutions
    • H41 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Public Goods

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