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Beliefs and Public Good Provision with Anonymous Contributors

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  • Wilfredo L. Maldonado
  • José A. Rodrigues-Neto

Abstract

We analyze a static game of public good contributions where finitely many anonymous players have heterogeneous preferences about the public good and heterogeneous beliefs about the distribution of preferences. In the unique symmetric equilibrium, the only individuals who make positive contributions are those who most value the public good and who are also the most pessimistic; that is, according to their beliefs, the proportion of players who value the most the public good is smaller than it would be according to any other possible belief. We predict whether the aggregate contribution is larger or smaller than it would be in an analogous game with complete information (and heterogeneous preferences), by comparing the beliefs of contributors with the true distribution of preferences. A tradeoff between preferences and beliefs arises if there is no individual who simultaneously has the highest preference type and the most pessimistic belief. In this case, there is a symmetric equilibrium, and multiple symmetric equilibria occur only if there are more than two preference types.

Suggested Citation

  • Wilfredo L. Maldonado & José A. Rodrigues-Neto, 2012. "Beliefs and Public Good Provision with Anonymous Contributors," ANU Working Papers in Economics and Econometrics 2012-599, Australian National University, College of Business and Economics, School of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:acb:cbeeco:2012-599
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    File URL: https://www.cbe.anu.edu.au/researchpapers/econ/wp599.pdf
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    Cited by:

    1. Anwesha Banerjee & Nicolas Gravel, 2020. "Contribution to a public good under subjective uncertainty," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 22(3), pages 473-500, June.
    2. Anwesha Banerjee & Stefano Barbieri & Kai A. Konrad, 2022. "Climate Policy, Irreversibilities and Global Economic Shocks," Working Papers tax-mpg-rps-2022-11, Max Planck Institute for Tax Law and Public Finance.
    3. Ida Ferrara & Paul Missios, 2020. "Trust, ability‐to‐pay, and charitable giving," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 22(3), pages 583-629, June.
    4. Kocherlakota, Narayana R. & Song, Yangwei, 2019. "Public goods with ambiguity in large economies," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 182(C), pages 218-246.
    5. Luis V. M. Freitas & Wilfredo L. Maldonado, 2021. "Quadratic Funding with Incomplete Information," Working Papers, Department of Economics 2021_24, University of São Paulo (FEA-USP).

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • C72 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Noncooperative Games
    • H41 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Public Goods

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