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Altruism and Voluntary Provision of Public Goods

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  • Leanne Ma

    (Department of Economics, University of Melbourne)

  • Katerina Sherstyuk

    () (Department of Economics, University of Hawaii at Manoa)

  • Malcom Dowling

    (Department of Economics, University of Melbourne)

  • Oliver Hill

    (Department of Psychology, Virginia State University)

Abstract

We study how people's predisposition towards altruism, as measured by tools developed by psychologists, affects their behavior in a voluntary contributions public good experiment. Earlier experiments provide evidence against the strong free rider hypothesis; however, contributions to the public good decrease with repetition. We investigate whether a high level of contributions can be sustained in groups of subjects who have been pre-selected on the basis of their altruistic inclinations. In the first stage of the experiment, each subject responds to a psychology questionnaire that measures various dimensions of one's personality. The subjects are then matched in groups according to their altruism scores, and engage in a voluntary contribution game. We consider whether the levels and dynamics of group contributions differ significantly between the groups with altruists and non-altruists. We find that subjects' altruism has a weak but positive effect on group behavior in the public good game.

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File URL: http://www.economics.hawaii.edu/research/workingpapers/012.pdf
File Function: First version, 2000
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Bibliographic Info

Paper provided by University of Hawaii at Manoa, Department of Economics in its series Working Papers with number 200013.

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Length: 17 pages
Date of creation: 2000
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:hai:wpaper:200013

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  1. Bohm, Peter, 1972. "Estimating demand for public goods: An experiment," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 3(2), pages 111-130.
  2. repec:att:wimass:9309 is not listed on IDEAS
  3. Andreoni, James, 1995. "Cooperation in Public-Goods Experiments: Kindness or Confusion?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 85(4), pages 891-904, September.
  4. Burks, Stephen V. & Carpenter, Jeffrey P. & Verhoogen, Eric, 2003. "Playing both roles in the trust game," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 51(2), pages 195-216, June.
  5. Palfrey, Thomas R & Prisbrey, Jeffrey E, 1997. "Anomalous Behavior in Public Goods Experiments: How Much and Why?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 87(5), pages 829-46, December.
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Cited by:
  1. Espinosa Alejos, María Paz & Brañas Garza, Pablo, 2010. "Unraveling Public Good Games: The Role of Priors," DFAEII Working Papers 2010-04, University of the Basque Country - Department of Foundations of Economic Analysis II.
  2. James Tully, 2005. "Communication Networks, Hegemony, and Communicative Action," The Constitutionalism Web-Papers p0015, University of Bath, Department of European Studies and Modern Languages.
  3. repec:ebl:ecbull:v:3:y:2002:i:31:p:1-8 is not listed on IDEAS
  4. Katerina Sherstyuk & Oliver Hill & Malcolm Dowling & Leanne Ma, 2002. "Altruism and voluntary provision of public goods," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 3(31), pages 1-8.

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