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When Identifying Contributors is Costly: An Experiment on Public Goods

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  • Samek, Anya
  • Sheremeta, Roman

Abstract

Studies show that identifying contributors increases contributions to public goods. In practice, viewing identifiable information is costly, which may discourage people from accessing it. We design a public goods experiment in which participants can pay to view information about identities and contributions of group members. We compare this to a treatment in which there is no identifiable information, and a treatment in which all contributors are identified. Our main findings are that: (1) contributions in the treatment with costly information are as high as those in the treatment with free information, (2) participants rarely choose to view the information, and (3) being a high contributor is correlated with choosing to view information about others.

Suggested Citation

  • Samek, Anya & Sheremeta, Roman, 2015. "When Identifying Contributors is Costly: An Experiment on Public Goods," MPRA Paper 61903, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:61903
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    public-goods; information; recognition; laboratory experiment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C72 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Noncooperative Games
    • C91 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Individual Behavior
    • H41 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Public Goods

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