By: |
Weber, Till O. (Newcastle University);
Schulz, Jonathan F. (George Mason University);
Beranek, Benjamin (Missouri State University);
Lambarraa-Lehnhardt, Fatima (ZALF - Centre for Agricultural Landscape and Land Use Research);
Gächter, Simon (University of Nottingham) |
Abstract: |
We examine the role of cooperative preferences, beliefs, and punishments to
uncover potential cross-societal differences in voluntary cooperation. Using
one-shot public goods experiments in four comparable subject pools from the US
and the UK (two similar Western societies) and Morocco and Turkey (two
comparable non-Western societies), we find that cooperation is lower in
Morocco and Turkey than in the UK and the US. Using the ABC approach - in
which cooperative attitudes and beliefs explain cooperation - we show that
cooperation is mostly driven by differences in beliefs rather than cooperative
preferences or peer punishment, both of which are similar across the four
subject pools. Our methodology is generalizable across subject pools and
highlights the central role of beliefs in explaining differences in voluntary
cooperation within and across culturally, economically, and institutionally
diverse societies. Because our behavioral mechanisms correctly predict actual
contributions, we argue that our approach provides a suitable methodology for
analyzing the determinants of voluntary cooperation of any group of interest. |
Keywords: |
cross-cultural experiments, punishment, beliefs, conditional cooperation, ABC method, voluntary cooperation, public goods, WEIRD societies |
JEL: |
C9 H4 C7 D2 |
Date: |
2023–08 |
URL: |
http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp16415&r=evo |