Hostname: page-component-7b7567c8c-lpg2g Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-11-15T14:49:50.673Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Detecting motives for cooperation in public goods experiments

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2025

Takafumi Yamakawa,
Yoshitaka Okano and
Tatsuyoshi Saijo
Takafumi Yamakawa*
Affiliation:
Institute of Social and Economic Research, Osaka University, 6-1 Mihogaoka, Ibaraki, Osaka 567-0047, Japan
Yoshitaka Okano*
Affiliation:
School of Economics and Management, Kochi University of Technology, 2-22 Eikokujicho, Kochi 780-8515, Japan
Tatsuyoshi Saijo*
Affiliation:
Research Center for Social Design Engineering, Kochi University of Technology, 2-22 Eikokujicho, Kochi 780-8515, JapanCenter for Environmental Innovation Design for Sustainability, Osaka University, 2-1 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka 565-0871, JapanInstitute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University, 2-1 Naka, Kunitachi, Tokyo 186-8601, Japan
*
yamakawa@iser.osaka-u.ac.jp
oknystk@gmail.com
tatsuyoshisaijo@gmail.com
Get accessRights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This study clarifies the types of motives that are important as a source of cooperation in a linear public goods experiment. Our experimental design separates contributions into those due to confusion, one-shot motives (which includes altruism, warm-glow, inequality aversion, and conditional cooperation), and multi-round motives (which includes a strategic motive under incomplete information, a failure of backward induction, and reciprocity). The experiment reveals that multi-round motives plays an important role in driving cooperative behavior. Confusion and one-shot motives play a minor role.

Keywords

CooperationMotivesPublic goods

JEL classification

H41: Public GoodsC92: Laboratory, Group BehaviorC72: Noncooperative Games

Information

Type
Original Paper
Information
Experimental Economics , Volume 19 , Issue 2 , June 2016, pp. 500 - 512
Copyright
Copyright © 2015 Economic Science Association

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

Footnotes

Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:https://doi.org/10.1007/s10683-015-9451-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

References

Anderson, SP, Goeree, JK, & Holt, CA (1998). A theoretical analysis of altruism and decision error in public goods games. Journal of Public Economics, 70, 297–323. 10.1016/S0047-2727(98)00035-8CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Andreoni, J (1988). Privately provided public goods in a large economy: The limits of altruism. Journal of Public Economics, 35, 57–73. 10.1016/0047-2727(88)90061-8CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Andreoni, J (1988). Why free ride? Strategies and learning in public goods experiments. Journal of Public Economics, 37, 291–304. 10.1016/0047-2727(88)90043-6CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Andreoni, J (1989). Giving with impure altruism: Applications to charity and Ricardian equivalence. Journal of Political Economy, 97, 1447–1458. 10.1086/261662CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Andreoni, J (1990). Impure altruism and donations to public goods: A theory of warm glow giving. Economic Journal, 100, 464–477. 10.2307/2234133CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Andreoni, J (1995). Cooperation in public goods experiments: Kindness or confusion?. American Economic Review, 85, 891–904.Google Scholar
Binmore, K, McCarthy, J, Ponti, G, Samuelson, L, & Shaked, A (2002). A backward induction experiment. Journal of Economic Theory, 104, 48–88. 10.1006/jeth.2001.2910CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brandts, J, Saijo, T, & Schram, A (2004). How universal is behavior? A four country comparison of spite and cooperation in voluntary contribution mechanisms. Public Choice, 119, 381–424. 10.1023/B:PUCH.0000033329.53595.1bCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brandts, J, & Schram, A (2001). Cooperation and noise in public goods experiments: Applying the contribution function approach. Journal of Public Economics, 79, 399–427. 10.1016/S0047-2727(99)00120-6CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cabral, L, Ozbay, EY, & Schotter, A (2014). Intrinsic and instrumental reciprocity: An experimental study. Games and Economic Behavior, 87, 100–121. 10.1016/j.geb.2014.05.001CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cason, TN, Saijo, T, & Yamato, T (2002). Voluntary participation and spite in public good provision experiments: An international comparison. Experimental Economics, 5, 133–153. 10.1023/A:1020317321607CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cason, TN, Saijo, T, Yamato, T, & Yokotani, K (2004). Non-excludable public good experiments. Games and Economic Behavior, 49, 81–102. 10.1016/j.geb.2003.11.002CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Charness, G, Fréchette, GR, & Kagel, JH (2004). How robust is laboratory gift exchange. Experimental Economics, 7, 189–205. 10.1023/B:EXEC.0000026979.14590.3cCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cooper, R, DeJong, DV, Forsythe, R, & Ross, TW (1996). Cooperation without reputation: Experimental evidence from prisoner’s dilemma games. Games and Economic Behavior, 12, 187–218. 10.1006/game.1996.0013CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cox, JC (2004). How to identify trust and reciprocity. Games and Economic Behavior, 46, 260–281. 10.1016/S0899-8256(03)00119-2CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Croson, RTA (1996). Partners and strangers revisited. Economics Letters, 53, 25–32. 10.1016/S0165-1765(97)82136-2CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Croson, RTA (2007). Theories of commitment, altruism and reciprocity: Evidence from linear public goods games. Economic Inquiry, 45, 199–216. 10.1111/j.1465-7295.2006.00006.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dreber, A, Fudenberg, D, & Rand, DG (2014). Who cooperates in repeated games: The role of altruism, inequity aversion, and demographics. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 98, 41–55. 10.1016/j.jebo.2013.12.007CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Falk, A., & Fischbacher, U. (2006). A theory of reciprocity. Games and Economic Behavior, 54, 293–315.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fehr, E, & Schmidt, K (1999). A theory of fairness, competition and cooperation. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 114, 817–868. 10.1162/003355399556151CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ferraro, PJ, Rondeau, D, & Poe, GL (2003). Detecting other-regarding behavior with virtual players. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 51, 99–109. 10.1016/S0167-2681(02)00137-3CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fischbacher, U (2007). z-Tree: Zurich toolbox for ready-made economic experiments. Experimental Economics, 10, 171–178. 10.1007/s10683-006-9159-4CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fischbacher, U, Gächter, S, & Fehr, E (2001). Are people conditionally cooperative? Evidence from a public goods experiment. Economics Letters, 71, 397–404. 10.1016/S0165-1765(01)00394-9CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goeree, JK, Holt, CA, & Laury, SK (2002). Private costs and public benefits: Unraveling the effects of altruism and noisy behavior. Journal of Public Economics, 83, 255–276. 10.1016/S0047-2727(00)00160-2CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Houser, D, & Kurzban, R (2002). Revisiting kindness and confusion in public goods experiments. American Economic Review, 92, 1062–1069. 10.1257/00028280260344605CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jacobson, S, & Petrie, R (2014). Favor trading in public good provision. Experimental Economics, 17, 439–460. 10.1007/s10683-013-9377-5CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, EJ, Camerer, C, Sen, S, & Rymon, T (2002). Detecting failures of backward induction: Monitoring information search in sequential bargaining. Journal of Economic Theory, 104, 16–47. 10.1006/jeth.2001.2850CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keser, C, & Van Winden, F (2000). Conditional cooperation and voluntary contributions to public goods. Scandinavian Journal of Economics, 102, 23–39. 10.1111/1467-9442.00182CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kreps, DM, Milgrom, P, Roberts, J, & Wilson, R (1982). Rational cooperation in the finitely repeated prisoners’ dilemma. Journal of Economic Theory, 27, 245–252. 10.1016/0022-0531(82)90029-1CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ledyard, JO Kagel, JH, & Roth, AE (1995). Public goods: A survey of experimental research. The handbook of experimental economics, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press 111–194.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Palfrey, TR, & Prisbrey, JE (1996). Altruism, reputation, and noise in linear public goods experiments. Journal of Public Economics, 61, 409–427. 10.1016/0047-2727(95)01544-2CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Palfrey, TR, & Prisbrey, JE (1997). Anomalous behavior in public goods experiments: How much and why?. American Economic Review, 87, 829–846.Google Scholar
Rabin, M (1993). Incorporating fairness into game theory and economics. American Economic Review, 83, 1281–1302.Google Scholar
Reuben, E, & Suetens, S (2012). Revisiting strategic versus non-strategic cooperation. Experimental Economics, 15, 24–43. 10.1007/s10683-011-9286-4CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sonnemans, J, Schram, A, & Offerman, T (1999). Strategic behavior in public good games: When partners drift apart. Economics Letters, 62, 35–41. 10.1016/S0165-1765(98)00203-1CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Dijk, F, Sonnemans, J, & Van Winden, F (2002). Social ties in a public good experiment. Journal of Public Economics, 85, 275–299. 10.1016/S0047-2727(01)00090-1CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weimann, J (1994). Individual behavior in a free riding experiment. Journal of Public Economics, 54, 185–200. 10.1016/0047-2727(94)90059-0CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yamakawa, T (2012). Strategic, social and confused motivations in public goods experiments. (in Japanese). Keizai Kenkyu, 63, 236–248.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Yamakawa et al. supplementary material

Yamakawa et. al. supplementary material
Download Yamakawa et al. supplementary material(File)
File 237.3 KB