Identities, selection, and contributions in a public-goods game
Article
Charness, G., Cobo-Reyes, R. and Jimenez Jimenez, N. 2014. Identities, selection, and contributions in a public-goods game. Games and Economic Behavior. 87, pp. 322-338. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geb.2014.05.002
Type | Article |
---|---|
Title | Identities, selection, and contributions in a public-goods game |
Authors | Charness, G., Cobo-Reyes, R. and Jimenez Jimenez, N. |
Abstract | The notions of one's social identity and group membership have recently become topics for economic theory and experiments, and recent research has shown the importance of identity in a wide array of economic environments. But predictions are unclear when there is some trade-off between one's identity (e.g., race, gender, handedness) and potential monetary considerations. We conduct a public-goods experiment in which we permit endogenous group-formation. In a 2x2 design, we vary whether people participate in a team-building exercise and whether some people receive an endowment twice as much as others receive. We find that when both identity and financial considerations are present, high-endowment participants are strongly attracted to each other, with one's word-task-group affiliation eclipsed by the opportunity to earn more. Nevertheless, the team-building exercise greatly increases the level of contribution whether or not one is linked to people from one's team-building exercise. |
Keywords | Experiment; Identity; Team building; Public goods contributions |
Publisher | Elsevier |
Journal | Games and Economic Behavior |
ISSN | 0899-8256 |
Electronic | 1090-2473 |
Publication dates | |
Online | 16 May 2014 |
01 Sep 2014 | |
Publication process dates | |
Deposited | 09 Jun 2015 |
Submitted | 10 Aug 2013 |
Output status | Published |
Digital Object Identifier (DOI) | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geb.2014.05.002 |
Web of Science identifier | WOS:000343391800019 |
Language | English |
First submitted version |
https://repository.mdx.ac.uk/item/85976
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