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What exactly is public in a public good game? A lab-in-the-field experiment

Author

Listed:
  • Pietro Battiston
  • Simona Gamba
  • Matteo Rizzolli
  • Valentina Rotondi
Abstract
Are public good games really capturing individuals' willingness to contribute to real-life public goods? To answer this question, we conducted a lab-in-the-field experiment with communities who own collective goods. In our experiment, subjects voluntarily contribute to a common pool, which can either be subdivided in individual vouchers, as in standard public good games, or used to acquire collective goods, as it happens for real-life public goods. We show that participants' contributions are larger when the voucher is paid individually, suggesting that individuals' willingness to contribute to public goods may be overestimated when based on results from laboratory experiments.

Suggested Citation

  • Pietro Battiston & Simona Gamba & Matteo Rizzolli & Valentina Rotondi, 2018. "What exactly is public in a public good game? A lab-in-the-field experiment," Working Papers 125, "Carlo F. Dondena" Centre for Research on Social Dynamics (DONDENA), Università Commerciale Luigi Bocconi.
    • Handle: RePEc:don:donwpa:125
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Keywords

    ublic goods; lab-in-the-field experiment; cooperation; group behavior; community; indivisibility;
    All these keywords.

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