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Where are you from? Cultural differences in public good experiments

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  • Finocchiaro Castro, Massimo

Abstract

We study the effect of cultural differences on contributions in a public good experiment, analysing real-time interactions between Italian and British subjects in their home countries. In the first treatment, subjects play in nationally homogeneous groups. In the second treatment, Italian and British subjects play in heterogeneous groups, knowing the nationality of the group members. In the third treatment, we control for a possible "country effect" by giving players no information on nationality. The data suggest that, in homogeneous groups, British subjects contribute significantly more to the public good; contributions are lower in heterogeneous groups; there is no country effect.

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  • Finocchiaro Castro, Massimo, 2008. "Where are you from? Cultural differences in public good experiments," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 37(6), pages 2319-2329, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:soceco:v:37:y:2008:i:6:p:2319-2329
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    2. repec:eee:deveco:v:129:y:2017:i:c:p:47-57 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Blind, Georg & Stefania, Lottanti von Mandach, 2017. "Modeling the „Visitors to Rome“ effect: Reputation Building in Anglo-Saxon Buyout Funds in Japan," MPRA Paper 77761, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Faillo, Marco & Grieco, Daniela & Zarri, Luca, 2012. "Cultural Diversity, Cooperation,and Anti-social Punishment," AICCON Working Papers 102-2012, Associazione Italiana per la Cultura della Cooperazione e del Non Profit.
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    7. Kean Ch’ng & Suet Khoo & Phaik Chin, 2014. "The effects of cultural and historical information and contribution threshold on public contributions: an experimental study on the conservation of heritage houses in Penang, Malaysia," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 38(3), pages 207-222, August.
    8. Chuah, Swee-Hoon & Hoffmann, Robert & Jones, Martin & Williams, Geoffrey, 2009. "An economic anatomy of culture: Attitudes and behaviour in inter- and intra-national ultimatum game experiments," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 30(5), pages 732-744, October.
    9. Horak, Sven, 2013. "Cross-cultural experimental economics and indigenous management research: Issues and contributions," Working Papers on East Asian Studies 92/2013, University of Duisburg-Essen, Institute of East Asian Studies IN-EAST.
    10. Luke Condra & Mohammad Isaqzadeh & Sera Linardi, 2016. "Imagined vs. Actual "Others": An Experiment on Interethnic Giving Afghanistan," Framed Field Experiments 00546, The Field Experiments Website.
    11. Keuschnigg, Marc & Schikora, Jan, 2014. "The dark side of leadership: An experiment on religious heterogeneity and cooperation in India," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 19-26.
    12. Giacomo Degli Antoni & Gianluca Grimalda, 2012. "The value of real voluntary associations," Econometica Working Papers wp37, Econometica.
    13. Keuschnigg, Marc & Schikora, Jan, 2014. "The Dark Side of Leadership: An Experiment on Religious Heterogeneity and Cooperation in India," MPRA Paper 57533, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    14. Tom Lane, 2015. "Discrimination in the laboratory: a meta-analysis," Discussion Papers 2015-03, The Centre for Decision Research and Experimental Economics, School of Economics, University of Nottingham.
    15. Smith, Alexander, 2011. "Group composition and conditional cooperation," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 40(5), pages 616-622.
    16. Riccardo Borgoni & Giacomo Degli Antoni & Marco Faillo & Alessandra Michelangeli, 2017. "Preferences for living in homogenous communities and cooperation: a new methodological approach combining the hedonic price model and a field experiment," Econometica Working Papers wp62, Econometica.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Public goods Experiments Real-time interactions Cultural differences;

    JEL classification:

    • C92 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Group Behavior
    • H41 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Public Goods
    • Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification

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