Revise and Resubmit, Economic Inquiry Theories of Commitment, Altruism and Reciprocity: Evidence from Linear Public Goods Games
نویسنده
چکیده
Theories of commitment, altruism and reciprocity have all been invoked to explain and describe behavior in public goods and social dilemma situations. Commitment theories have been used to explain behaviors like water conservation and voting. Theories of altruism are applied to explain contributions to charities and intergenerational transfers and bequests. Theories of reciprocity have been invoked to explain gift exchange and labor market decisions. This paper describes a set of experiments which distinguish between these competing theories by testing their comparative statics predictions in a linear public goods setting. Results provide strong support for reciprocity theories over either theories of commitment or of altruism.
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