Growth and inequality in public good provision

In a novel experimental design we study public good games with dynamic interdependencies, where each agent’s wealth at the end of period t serves as her endowment in t + 1. In this setting growth and inequality arise endogenously allowing us to address new questions regarding their interplay and eff...

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Main Authors: Gaechter, Simon, Mengel, Friederike, Tsakas, Elias, Vostroknutov, Alexander
Format: Article
Published: Elsevier 2017
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/41669/
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author Gaechter, Simon
Mengel, Friederike
Tsakas, Elias
Vostroknutov, Alexander
author_facet Gaechter, Simon
Mengel, Friederike
Tsakas, Elias
Vostroknutov, Alexander
author_sort Gaechter, Simon
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description In a novel experimental design we study public good games with dynamic interdependencies, where each agent’s wealth at the end of period t serves as her endowment in t + 1. In this setting growth and inequality arise endogenously allowing us to address new questions regarding their interplay and effect on cooperation. We find that amounts contributed are increasing over time even in the absence of punishment possibilities. Variation in wealth is substantial with the richest groups earning more than ten times what the poorest groups earn. Introducing the possibility of punishment does not increase wealth and in some cases even decreases it. In the presence of a punishment option inequality in early periods is strongly negatively correlated with group income in later periods, highlighting negative interaction effects between endogenous inequality and punishment.
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spelling nottingham-416692020-05-04T19:56:56Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/41669/ Growth and inequality in public good provision Gaechter, Simon Mengel, Friederike Tsakas, Elias Vostroknutov, Alexander In a novel experimental design we study public good games with dynamic interdependencies, where each agent’s wealth at the end of period t serves as her endowment in t + 1. In this setting growth and inequality arise endogenously allowing us to address new questions regarding their interplay and effect on cooperation. We find that amounts contributed are increasing over time even in the absence of punishment possibilities. Variation in wealth is substantial with the richest groups earning more than ten times what the poorest groups earn. Introducing the possibility of punishment does not increase wealth and in some cases even decreases it. In the presence of a punishment option inequality in early periods is strongly negatively correlated with group income in later periods, highlighting negative interaction effects between endogenous inequality and punishment. Elsevier 2017-06 Article PeerReviewed Gaechter, Simon, Mengel, Friederike, Tsakas, Elias and Vostroknutov, Alexander (2017) Growth and inequality in public good provision. Journal of Public Economics, 150 . pp. 1-13. ISSN 0047-2727 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0047272717300361 doi:10.1016/j.jpubeco.2017.03.002 doi:10.1016/j.jpubeco.2017.03.002
spellingShingle Gaechter, Simon
Mengel, Friederike
Tsakas, Elias
Vostroknutov, Alexander
Growth and inequality in public good provision
title Growth and inequality in public good provision
title_full Growth and inequality in public good provision
title_fullStr Growth and inequality in public good provision
title_full_unstemmed Growth and inequality in public good provision
title_short Growth and inequality in public good provision
title_sort growth and inequality in public good provision
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/41669/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/41669/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/41669/