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Do upfront investments increase cooperation? A laboratory experiment

Author

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  • Fortuna Casoria

    (Univ Lyon, CNRS, GATE UMR 5824, F-69130 Ecully, France)

  • Alice Ciccone

    (Institute of Transport Economics, Oslo, Norvège)

Abstract

We investigate whether upfront investments increase cooperation in settings with no enforcement mechanism, where cooperation is not easily sustained voluntarily. Such investments are a cost that individuals incur before deciding whether to cooperate and increase cooperation payoff. We find that cooperation rarely emerges in treatments without investments, while both endogenous and exogenous investments boost overall cooperation levels. For low endogenous investments, cooperation is lower than when the same investments are exogenous. For high investments, cooperation is not significantly different between endogenous and exogenous conditions. This supports low investments being interpreted as a signal of unwillingness to cooperate, triggering non-cooperative choices.

Suggested Citation

  • Fortuna Casoria & Alice Ciccone, 2019. "Do upfront investments increase cooperation? A laboratory experiment," Working Papers 1918, Groupe d'Analyse et de Théorie Economique Lyon St-Étienne (GATE Lyon St-Étienne), Université de Lyon.
    • Handle: RePEc:gat:wpaper:1918
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    KeyCooperation; Upfront investments; Prisoners' dilemma; Experiment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C7 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory
    • C72 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Noncooperative Games
    • C73 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Stochastic and Dynamic Games; Evolutionary Games
    • C9 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments
    • C91 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Individual Behavior

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