Incomplete punishment networks, heterogeneity, and cooperation in public good experiments

This study conducts laboratory experiments to explore the effect of punishment on public good contributions when individuals have heterogeneous marginal per capita returns on the public good under different punishment networks. According to the experimental results, we find that the structure of pun...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of behavioral and experimental economics 2023-12, Vol.107, p.102091, Article 102091
Main Authors: Peng, Hui-Chun, Fan, Yi-Hsuan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Heterogeneity
Laboratory experiment
Networks
Public good
Punishment
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Summary:This study conducts laboratory experiments to explore the effect of punishment on public good contributions when individuals have heterogeneous marginal per capita returns on the public good under different punishment networks. According to the experimental results, we find that the structure of punishment network affects the contribution decision and punishment behavior. Among the punishment networks investigated in this study, the circle and homo-pairwise punishment networks have significantly higher effectiveness at improving the cooperation level. We also find that the complete punishment network leads to lower punishment severity and efficiency than the incomplete punishment networks. •We conduct public good experiments to investigate the effect of punishment networks on individual contributions when individuals are heterogeneous.•Among the investigated punishment networks, the circle and homo-pairwise punishment networks have significantly higher effectiveness at improving the cooperation level.•The level of efficiency in the incomplete punishment networks is significantly higher.
ISSN:2214-8043
DOI:10.1016/j.socec.2023.102091