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Social identity, group composition and public good provision: an experimental study

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  • Chakravarty, Surajeet
  • Fonseca, Miguel A.

Abstract

Social fragmentation has been identified as a potential cause for the under-provision of public goods in developing nations, as well as in urban communities in developed countries such as the U.S. We study the effect of social fragmentation on public good provision using laboratory experiments. We create two artificial social groups in the lab and we assign subjects belonging to both groups to a public good game. The treatment variable is the relative size of each social group, which is a proxy for social fragmentation. We find that while higher social fragmentation leads to lower public good provision, this effect is short-lived. Furthermore, social homogeneity does not lead to higher levels of contributions.

Suggested Citation

  • Chakravarty, Surajeet & Fonseca, Miguel A., 2010. "Social identity, group composition and public good provision: an experimental study," MPRA Paper 23115, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:23115
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Social diversity – the good news
      by Nicholas Gruen in Club Troppo on 2010-06-22 07:42:22

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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • D03 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Behavioral Microeconomics: Underlying Principles
    • C92 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Group Behavior
    • D02 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Institutions: Design, Formation, Operations, and Impact
    • H41 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Public Goods

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