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Revisiting the Impact of Impure Public Goods on Consumers' Prosocial Behavior: A Lab Experiment in Shanghai

Author

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  • Qinxin Guo

    (Graduate School of Economics, Kobe University, Japan)

  • Enci Wang

    (School of Economics, Shanghai University, China)

  • Yongyou Nie

    (School of Economics, Shanghai University, China)

  • Junyi Shen

    (Research Institute for Economics & Business Administration (RIEB), Kobe University, Japan, and School of Economics, Shanghai University, China)

Abstract

In this study, we implemented a dictator game experiment to examine how the increase of the public characteristic in an impure public good affects individuals’ prosocial behavior. A within-subject design was used in the experiment. The dictator game was repeated six times with an impure public good introduced in four of them. We observe that the increase of the public characteristic in an impure public good partly crowds out individuals’ subsequent donations, which could be explained by a seemingly “mental accounting” mental process. In addition, we also find that the selfish behavior of individuals in dictator games with impure public goods, to some extent, has an inertia influence on their subsequent donations when the impure public good is removed.

Suggested Citation

  • Qinxin Guo & Enci Wang & Yongyou Nie & Junyi Shen, 2018. "Revisiting the Impact of Impure Public Goods on Consumers' Prosocial Behavior: A Lab Experiment in Shanghai," Discussion Paper Series DP2018-22, Research Institute for Economics & Business Administration, Kobe University.
    • Handle: RePEc:kob:dpaper:dp2018-22
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    Keywords

    Impure public goods; Dictator game; Multiple dictators; Mental accounting;
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