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The Scope of Cooperation: Values and incentives

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Tabellini, Guido

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Abstract

What explains the range of situations in which individuals cooperate? This paper studies a theoretical model where individuals respond to incentives but are also influenced by norms of good conduct inherited from earlier generations. Parents rationally choose what values to transmit to their offspring, and this choice is influenced by the quality of external enforcement and the pattern of likely future transactions. The equilibrium displays strategic complementarities between values and current behaviour, which reinforce the effects of changes in the external environment. Values evolve gradually over time, and if the quality of external enforcement is chosen under majority rule, there is hysteresis: adverse initial conditions may lead to a unique equilibrium path where external enforcement remains weak and individual values discourage cooperation.

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Paper provided by C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers in its series CEPR Discussion Papers with number 6534.

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Date of creation: Oct 2007
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Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:6534

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Related research
Keywords: cooperation; cultural transmission; culture; institutions;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
A10 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - General
A14 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - Sociology of Economics

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Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Thomas Dohmen & Armin Falk & David Huffman & Uwe Sunde, 2009. "The Intergenerational Transmission of Attitudes," CESifo DICE Report, Ifo Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 7(1), pages 8-12, 04. [Downloadable!]
  2. Adriani, Fabrizio & Sonderegger, Silvia, 2009. "Why do parents socialize their children to behave pro-socially? An information-based theory," MPRA Paper 16107, University Library of Munich, Germany. [Downloadable!]
  3. Lacetera, Nicola & Macis, Mario, 2008. "Motivating Altruism: A Field Study," IZA Discussion Papers 3770, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
  4. Jean-Baptiste Michau, 2009. "Unemployment Insurance and Cultural Transmission: Theory and Application to European Unemployment," CEP Discussion Papers dp0936, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE. [Downloadable!]
  5. Adriani, Fabrizio & Sonderegger, Silvia, 2009. "Trust, Introspection, and Market Participation: an Evolutionary Approach," MPRA Paper 16110, University Library of Munich, Germany. [Downloadable!]
  6. Beugelsdijk, S. & Smulders, J.A., 2009. "Bonding and Bridging Social Capital and Economic Growth," Discussion Paper 2009-27, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research. [Downloadable!]
  7. Alesina, Alberto & Giuliano, Paola, 2009. "Family Ties and Political Participation," IZA Discussion Papers 4150, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
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  8. Marianna Belloc & Samuel Bowles, 2009. "International Trade, Factor Mobility and the Persistence of Cultural-Institutional Diversity," Working Papers 2009-08, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  9. Luca Anderlini & Dino Gerardi & Roger Lagunoff, 2007. "Social Memory and Evidence from the Past," Working Papers gueconwpa~07-07-01, Georgetown University, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
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