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Private provision of a public good: cooperation and altruism of internet forum users

Author

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  • Ros-Galvez, Alejandro
  • Rosa-García, Alfonso

Abstract

We run an experiment with users of internet message boards. We find that forum users cooperate more with partners of their own forum than with partners from a different forum but they are equally altruistic when they made a gift to a partner of their forum or from another one. We also find that individuals are more active in the forums, the more altruistic they are; however, we find no relation between activity in the forum and cooperation. These results suggest that the public good provided in internet forums is mainly provided by a group of unconditional altruistic group of users, and that the feeling of community supports the cooperation in that provision.

Suggested Citation

  • Ros-Galvez, Alejandro & Rosa-García, Alfonso, 2014. "Private provision of a public good: cooperation and altruism of internet forum users," MPRA Paper 57560, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:57560
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    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/57560/1/MPRA_paper_57560.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Antonio Filippin & Manuela Raimondi, 2018. "The Patron Game: the Individual Provision of a Public Good," Games, MDPI, vol. 9(2), pages 1-20, June.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    internet forums; public good provision; altruism; cooperation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C9 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments
    • C90 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - General
    • H41 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Public Goods
    • H42 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Publicly Provided Private Goods
    • L86 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Information and Internet Services; Computer Software

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