Research ArticleOpen AccessGoogle Scholar indexed
Can Formal Institutions Lead to the Spillover Effect of Cooperation?
Faculty of Economic and Business, Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University, Tbilisi, Georgia
- 1 Faculty of Economic and Business, Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University, Tbilisi, Georgia
Theoretical Economics Letters·Volume 11 (2021)·Pages 186–193·Published 5 March 2021·DOI10.4236/tel.2021.112013
Copy link · social · email
Abstract
Can formal institutions shape prosocial behavior and lead to the spillover effect of cooperation? To explore this question, we experimentally test the spillover-based theory in a novel context. We measured the spillover effect on cooperation in the same domain measured by the repeated anonymous public goods game. We found strong evidence of altruism. Our results are inconsistent with prediction of the spillover-based theory. Our finding suggests that exposure to strong formal institutions that provide top-down motivation for cooperation substantially improves cooperation in their presence, but do not seem to lead to more prosociality after their absence.
KeywordsCentralized PunishmentSpilloverPublic GoodsCooperation
- Arechar, A., Gachter, S., & Molleman L. (2018). Conducting Interactive Experiments Online. Experimental Economics, 21, 99-131. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10683-017-9527-2
- Gintis, H., Bowles, S., Boyd, R. T., & Fehr, E. (2005). Moral Sentiments and Material Interests: The Foundations of Cooperation in Economic Life (Vol. 6). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/4771.001.0001
- Hardin, G. (1968). The Tragedy of the Commons. Science, 162, 1243-1248. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.162.3859.1243
- Henrich, N., & Henrich, J. P. (2007). Culturally Evolved Social Norms Lead to Context-Specific Cooperation. In Why Humans Cooperate: A Cultural and Evolutionary Explanation (Ch. 8, pp. 157-173). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Herrmann, B., Thoni, C., & Gachter, S. (2008). Antisocial Punishment across Societies. Science, 319, 1362-1367. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1153808
- Hobbes, T. (1996 [1651]). Leviathan, or the Matter, Forme, and Power of a Commonwealth Ecclesiastical and Civil. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Ledyard, J. O. (1995). Public Goods: A Survey of Experimental Research. In J. Kagel, & A. E. Roth (Eds.), The Handbook of Experimental Economics (pp. 111-194). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvzsmff5.6
- Mekvabishvili, R. (Forthcoming). Georgia Leads in Prosociality: Comparison to Cross-Cultural Economic Experiment. Economics and Business, XII, No. 3.
- Rand, D. G., Peysakhovich, A., Kraft-Todd, G., Newman, G., Wurzbacher, O., Nowak, M., & Greene, J. (2014). Social Heuristics Shape Intuitive Cooperation. Nature Communications, 5, 3677. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms4677
- Stagnaro, M. N., Arechar, A. A., & Rand, D. G. (2017). From Good Institutions to Generous Citizens: Top-Down Incentives to Cooperate Promote Subsequent Prosociality But Not Norm Enforcement. Cognition, 167, 212-254. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2017.01.017