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Tipping Versus Cooperating to Supply a Public Good

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  • Scott Barrett
  • Astrid Dannenberg

Abstract

In some important multiplayer situations, such as efforts to supply a global public good, players can choose the game they want to play. In this paper we conduct an experimental test of the decision by a group with fixed membership, playing over a finite number of periods, to choose between a “tipping” game, in which every player wants to contribute to the public good provided enough other players contribute, and a prisoners’ dilemma, the classic cooperation game. In the prisoners’ dilemma, the first best outcome is attainable, but cannot be sustained as a Nash equilibrium. In the tipping game, only a second best outcome may be attainable, but there exists a Nash equilibrium that is strictly preferred to the one in the prisoners’ dilemma. We show that many groups persistently choose the prisoners’ dilemma despite its strategic disadvantage, and that the groups that eventually choose the tipping game do better than the ones that stick with the prisoners’ dilemma.

Suggested Citation

  • Scott Barrett & Astrid Dannenberg, 2017. "Tipping Versus Cooperating to Supply a Public Good," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 15(4), pages 910-941.
  • Handle: RePEc:oup:jeurec:v:15:y:2017:i:4:p:910-941.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/jeea/jvw022
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    Cited by:

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    2. Astrid Dannenberg & Carlo Gallier, 2020. "The choice of institutions to solve cooperation problems: a survey of experimental research," Experimental Economics, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 23(3), pages 716-749, September.
    3. Riccardo Ghidoni & Anna Lou Abatayo & Valentina Bosetti & Marco Casari & Massimo Tavoni, 2023. "Governing Climate Geoengineering: Side Payments Are Not Enough," Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, University of Chicago Press, vol. 10(5), pages 1149-1177.
    4. Astrid Dannenberg & Corina Haita-Falah & Sonja Zitzelsberger, 2020. "Voting on the threat of exclusion in a public goods experiment," Experimental Economics, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 23(1), pages 84-109, March.
    5. Bühren, Christoph & Dannenberg, Astrid, 2021. "The Demand for Punishment to Promote Cooperation Among Like-Minded People," VfS Annual Conference 2021 (Virtual Conference): Climate Economics 242427, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    6. Rodriguez, Luz A. & Pfaff, Alexander & Velez, Maria Alejandra, 2019. "Graduated stringency within collective incentives for group environmental compliance: Building coordination in field-lab experiments with artisanal gold miners in Colombia," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    7. Marco Catola & Pietro Guarnieri & Veronica Pizziol & Chiara Rapallini, 2023. "Measuring the attitude towards a European public budget: A cross-country experiment," Discussion Papers 2023/300, Dipartimento di Economia e Management (DEM), University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy.
    8. Fergus Green, 2015. "Nationally Self-Interested Climate Change Mitigation: A Unified Conceptual Framework," GRI Working Papers 199, Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment.
    9. Scott Barrett, 2022. "A Biodiversity Hotspots Treaty: The Road not Taken," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 83(4), pages 937-954, December.
    10. Thomas Hale, 2020. "Catalytic Cooperation," Global Environmental Politics, MIT Press, vol. 20(4), pages 73-98, Autumn.
    11. Dannenberg, Astrid & Gallier, Carlo, 2019. "The choice of institutions to solve cooperation problems: A survey of experimental research," ZEW Discussion Papers 19-021, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    12. Astrid Dannenberg & Carlo Gallier, 2019. "The Choice of Institutions to Solve Cooperation Problems: A Survey of Experimental Research," MAGKS Papers on Economics 201911, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, Department of Economics (Volkswirtschaftliche Abteilung).
    13. Christoph Buehren & Astrid Dannenberg, 2020. "The Demand for Punishment to Promote Cooperation Among Like-Minded People," MAGKS Papers on Economics 202044, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, Department of Economics (Volkswirtschaftliche Abteilung).
    14. Bühren, Christoph & Dannenberg, Astrid, 2021. "The demand for punishment to promote cooperation among like-minded people," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • C72 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Noncooperative Games
    • C92 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Group Behavior
    • F53 - International Economics - - International Relations, National Security, and International Political Economy - - - International Agreements and Observance; International Organizations
    • H41 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Public Goods

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