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Coming and going: Experiments on endogenous group sizes for excludable public goods

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Author Info

  • Ahn, T.K.
  • Isaac, R. Mark
  • Salmon, Timothy C.

Abstract

When a public good is congestible, individuals wanting to provide the public good face challenges in forming groups of optimal size, selecting the members of the group, and encouraging members to contribute for the public good. We conduct a series of experiments in which subjects form groups using three different entry and exit rules. The experimental results are analyzed in terms of group size, the level of public good provision, social efficiency, congestion and group stability. We find that entry restriction improves the average earnings for some individuals compared to free entry/exit or restricted exit. For a given group size, individuals under the restricted entry rule contribute more for the provision of the collective good. Also, for a given average contribution level of group members, subjects under the restricted entry rule suffer less from the congestion problem and are better able to form groups of sizes closer to the optimal.

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Bibliographic Info

Article provided by Elsevier in its journal Journal of Public Economics.

Volume (Year): 93 (2009)
Issue (Month): 1-2 (February)
Pages: 336-351

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Handle: RePEc:eee:pubeco:v:93:y:2009:i:1-2:p:336-351

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Web page: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/505578

Related research

Keywords: Public goods Collective action Entry and exit rules Group formation Group size;

References

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  5. Matthias Cinyabuguma & Talbot Page & Louis Putterman, 2004. "Cooperation Under the Threat of Expulsion in a Public Goods Experiment," Working Papers 2004-05, Brown University, Department of Economics.
  6. Talbot Page & Louis Putterman & Bulent Unel, 2002. "Voluntary Association in Public Goods Experiments: Reciprocity, Mimicry and Efficiency," Working Papers 2002-19, Brown University, Department of Economics.
  7. BARHAM, Vicky & BOADWAY, Robin & MARCHAND, Maurice & PESTIEAU, Pierre, 1992. "Volunteer work and club size: Nash equilibrium and optimality," CORE Discussion Papers 1992040, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE).
  8. Giorgio Coricelli & Dietmar Fehr & Gerlinde Fellner, 2003. "Partner selection in public goods experiments," Papers on Strategic Interaction 2003-13, Max Planck Institute of Economics, Strategic Interaction Group.
  9. T. K. Ahn & R. Mark Isaac & Timothy C. Salmon, 2008. "Endogenous Group Formation," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 10(2), pages 171-194, 04.
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  11. Henrich, Joseph, 2004. "Cultural group selection, coevolutionary processes and large-scale cooperation," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 53(1), pages 3-35, January.
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Citations

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Cited by:
  1. Chiara Cazzuffi & Alexander Moradi, 2010. "Why Do Cooperatives Fail? Big versus Small in Ghanaian Cocoa Producers’ Societies, 1930-36," CSAE Working Paper Series 2010-18, Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford.
  2. Judd B. Kessler & Alvin E. Roth, 2011. "Organ Allocation Policy and the Decision to Donate," NBER Working Papers 17324, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  3. Sergio Currarini & Friederike Menge, 2012. "Identity, Homophily and In-Group Bias," Working Papers 2012.37, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
  4. Gronberg, Timothy J. & Luccasen, R. Andrew & Turocy, Theodore L. & Van Huyck, John B., 2012. "Are tax-financed contributions to a public good completely crowded-out? Experimental evidence," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(7-8), pages 596-603.
  5. Timothy C. Salmon & Roberto A. Weber, 2011. "Maintaining efficiency while integrating entrants from lower-performing environments: an experimental study," ECON - Working Papers 035, Department of Economics - University of Zurich.
  6. Kaplan, Jonathan D. & Howitt, Richard E. & Kroll, Stephan, 2012. "Private Provision of a Stochastic Common Property Resource," 2012 Annual Meeting, August 12-14, 2012, Seattle, Washington 124855, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
  7. Charness, Gary, 2012. "Efficiency, Team building, and Spillover in a Public-goods Game," University of California at Santa Barbara, Economics Working Paper Series qt2np178xh, Department of Economics, UC Santa Barbara.
  8. Chiara Cazzuffi and Alexander Moradi, 2010. "Why Do Cooperatives Fail?� Big versus Small in Ghanaian Cocoa Producers' Societies, 1930-36," Economics Series Working Papers CSAE WPS/2010-18, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
  9. Reeson, Andrew F. & Tisdell, John G. & McAllister, Ryan R.J., 2011. "Trust, reputation and relationships in grazing rights markets: An experimental economic study," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(4), pages 651-658, February.
  10. Jason Barr & Troy Tassier, 2010. "Endogenous Neighborhood Selection and the Attainment of Cooperation in a Spatial Prisoner’s Dilemma Game," Computational Economics, Society for Computational Economics, vol. 35(3), pages 211-234, March.
  11. Timothy N. Cason & William A. Masters & Roman M. Sheremeta, 2010. "Entry Into Winner-Take-All And Proportional-Prize Contests:An Experimental Study," Purdue University Economics Working Papers 1231, Purdue University, Department of Economics.
  12. Eva Ranehill & Frédéric Schneider & Roberto A. Weber, 2012. "Growing groups, cooperation, and the rate of entry," ECON - Working Papers 103, Department of Economics - University of Zurich.
  13. Ananish Chaudhuri, 2011. "Sustaining cooperation in laboratory public goods experiments: a selective survey of the literature," Experimental Economics, Springer, vol. 14(1), pages 47-83, March.

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