Playing with the Good Guys: A Public Good Game with Endogenous Group Formation

Kjell Arne Brekke, Karen Evelyn Hauge, Jo Thori Lind and Karine Nyborg

Memo 08/2009

Last ned memo

In public good games, voluntary contributions tend to start o high and decline as the game is repeated. If high contributors are matched, however, contributions tend to stay high. We  propose a formalization predicting that high contributors will selfselect into groups committed to charitable giving. Testing this experimentally, we let subjects choose between two group types, where one type donate a xed amount to a charity. Contributions in these groups stayed high, whereas contributions in the other groups showed the well known declining pattern. One implication is that corporate social responsibility may attract more responsible employees.

Published June 20, 2014 11:17 AM - Last modified Mar. 27, 2024 8:31 AM