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Exit, Punishment and Rewards in Commons Dilemmas: An Experimental Study

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  • Giangiacomo Bravo
  • Flaminio Squazzoni

Abstract

Commons dilemmas are interaction situations where a common good is provided or exploited by a group of individuals so that optimal collective outcomes clash with private interests. Although in these situations, social norms and institutions exist that might help individuals to cooperate, little is known about the interaction effects between positive and negative incentives and exit options by individuals. We performed a modified public good game experiment to examine the effect of exit, rewards and punishment, as well as the interplay between exit and rewards and punishment. We found that punishment had a stronger effect than rewards on cooperation if considered by itself, whereas rewards had a stronger effect when combined with voluntary participation. This can be explained in terms of the ‘framing effect’, i.e., as the combination of exit and rewards might induce people to attach higher expected payoffs to cooperative strategies and expect better behaviour from others.

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  • Giangiacomo Bravo & Flaminio Squazzoni, 2013. "Exit, Punishment and Rewards in Commons Dilemmas: An Experimental Study," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(8), pages 1-9, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0069871
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0069871
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    2. Paolo Crosetto & Alexia Gaudeul & Gerhard Riener, 2012. "Partnerships, Imperfect Monitoring and Outside Options: Theory and Experimental Evidence," Jena Economics Research Papers 2012-052, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena.
    3. Federico Bianchi & Francisco Grimaldo & Giangiacomo Bravo & Flaminio Squazzoni, 2018. "The peer review game: an agent-based model of scientists facing resource constraints and institutional pressures," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 116(3), pages 1401-1420, September.
    4. Gonzalo Palomo-Vélez & Jacek Buczny & Mark Van Vugt, 2020. "Encouraging Pro-Environmental Behaviors Through Children-Based Appeals: A Kin Selection Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-25, January.
    5. Paolo Crosetto & Alexia Gaudeul & Gerhard Riener, 2012. "Partnerships, Imperfect Monitoring and Outside Options: Theory and Experimental Evidence," Jena Economics Research Papers 2012-052, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena.
    6. Kanittha Tambunlertchai & Sittidaj Pongkijvorasin, 2020. "The impacts of collective threshold requirements for rewards in a CPR experiment," Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, Springer;Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - SEEPS, vol. 22(4), pages 537-554, October.
    7. Lucas Wardil & Marco Antonio Amaral, 2017. "Cooperation in Public Goods Games: Stay, But Not for Too Long," Games, MDPI, vol. 8(3), pages 1-10, August.

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