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Voting for the distribution rule in a Public Good Game with heterogeneous endowments

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  • Annarita Colasante

    (Università Politecnica delle Marche)

  • Alberto Russo

    (Università Politecnica delle Marche)

Abstract

This paper analyzes the impact of inequality in the distribution of endowments on cooperation. We conduct a lab experiment using a dynamic Public Good Game to test this relation. We introduce the possibility of choosing among three different redistribution rules: Equidistribution, Proportional to contribution and Progressive to endowment. This novelty in a dynamic environment allows us to analyze how the inequality within groups changes according to individual choices and to investigate if players show inequity averse preferences. Results show that inequality has a negative impact on individual contribution. Players act in order to reduce the initial exogenous inequality. Indeed, in the Treatment with the highest level of inequality, agents vote for reducing the endowment heterogeneity. Moreover, individual contribution is strongly influenced by others’ contributions.

Suggested Citation

  • Annarita Colasante & Alberto Russo, 2017. "Voting for the distribution rule in a Public Good Game with heterogeneous endowments," Journal of Economic Interaction and Coordination, Springer;Society for Economic Science with Heterogeneous Interacting Agents, vol. 12(3), pages 443-467, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:jeicoo:v:12:y:2017:i:3:d:10.1007_s11403-016-0172-1
    DOI: 10.1007/s11403-016-0172-1
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    Cited by:

    1. Annarita Colasante & Aurora García-Gallego & Andrea Morone & Tiziana Temerario, 2017. "The utopia of cooperation: does intra-group competition drive out free riding?," Working Papers 2017/08, Economics Department, Universitat Jaume I, Castellón (Spain).
    2. Jie Chen, 2022. "Carrots and sticks: new evidence in public goods games with heterogeneous groups," Journal of Economic Interaction and Coordination, Springer;Society for Economic Science with Heterogeneous Interacting Agents, vol. 17(4), pages 1139-1169, October.
    3. Wang, Chaoqian & Pan, Qiuhui & Ju, Xinxiang & He, Mingfeng, 2021. "Public goods game with the interdependence of different cooperative strategies," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    4. Caleb Cox & Brock Stoddard, 2023. "Inequality and the Allocation of Collective Goods," Working Papers 23-10, Department of Economics, Appalachian State University.
    5. Colasante, Annarita, 2016. "Evolution of Cooperation in Public Good Game," MPRA Paper 72577, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Zack Dorner & Steven Tucker & Gazi Hassan, 2021. "A veil of ignorance: uncertain and ambiguous individual productivity supports stable contributions to a public good," Working Papers in Economics 21/01, University of Waikato.
    7. Yoshio Iida, 2021. "Communication, choice continuity, and player number in a continuous-time public goods experiment," Journal of Economic Interaction and Coordination, Springer;Society for Economic Science with Heterogeneous Interacting Agents, vol. 16(4), pages 955-988, October.
    8. Annarita Colasante & Aurora García-Gallego & Nikolaos Georgantzis & Andrea Morone, 2020. "Voluntary contributions in a system with uncertain returns: a case of systemic risk," Journal of Economic Interaction and Coordination, Springer;Society for Economic Science with Heterogeneous Interacting Agents, vol. 15(1), pages 111-132, January.

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