Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-kw2vx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-07T13:24:50.597Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Peer punishment across payoff equivalent public good and common pool resource experiments

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2025

David C. Kingsley*
Affiliation:
Department of Economics, University of Massachusetts Lowell, 1 University Ave., Lowell, MA 01854, USA

Abstract

This paper investigates the effectiveness of peer punishment in non-linear social dilemmas and replicates Cason and Gangadharan (Exp Econ 18:66–88, 2015). The contribution of this replication is that cooperation is quantified across payoff equivalent, strategically symmetric public good and common pool resource experiments. Results suggest that the cooperation-inducing effect of peer punishment is statistically equivalent across conditions. Despite this increase in cooperation, earnings are significantly lower than in the absence of punishment. Institutional features which improve the effectiveness of peer punishment in linear public good experiments may, similarly, make self-governance possible in more complex social dilemmas.

Type
Original Paper
Copyright
Copyright © Economic Science Association 2015

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s40881-015-0017-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

References

Cason, T., Gangadharan, L. (2015). Promoting cooperation in nonlinear social dilemmas through peer punishment. Experimental Economics, 18, 6688. 10.1007/s10683-014-9393-0CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chaudhuri, A. (2011). Sustaining cooperation in laboratory public goods experiments: A selective survey of the literature. Experimental Economics, 14(1), 4783. 10.1007/s10683-010-9257-1CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Egas, M., Riedl, A. (2008). The economics of altruistic punishment and the maintenance of cooperation. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 275, 871878. 10.1098/rspb.2007.1558CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Engelmann, D., Nikiforakis, N. (2015). In the long run we are all dead: On the benefits of peer punishment in rich environments. Social Choice and Welfare, 45(3), 561577. 10.1007/s00355-015-0884-5CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gachter, S., Renner, E., Sefton, M. (2008). The long-run benefits of punishment. Science, 322, 1510. 10.1126/science.1164744CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nikiforakis, N. (2008). Punishment and counter-punishment in public good games: Can we really govern ourselves? Journal of Public Economics, 92, 91112. 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2007.04.008CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nikiforakis, N., Normann, H.-T. (2008). A comparative statics analysis of punishment in public-good experiments. Experimental Economics, 11, 358369. 10.1007/s10683-007-9171-3CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ostrom, E., Walker, J., Gardner, R. (1992). Covenants with and without a sword: Self-governance is possible. The American Political Science Review, 86, 404417. 10.2307/1964229CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sefton, M., Shupp, R., Walker, J. M. (2007). The effect of rewards and sanctions in provision of public goods. Economic Inquiry, 45(4), 671690. 10.1111/j.1465-7295.2007.00051.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Kingsley supplementary material

Kingsley supplementary material
Download Kingsley supplementary material(File)
File 48 KB