Abstract
This paper provides a comparative-statics analysis of punishment in public-good experiments. We vary the effectiveness of punishment, that is, the factor by which punishment reduces the punished player’s income. The data show that contributions increase monotonically in punishment effectiveness. High effectiveness leads to near complete cooperation and welfare improvements. Below a certain threshold, however, punishment cannot prevent the decay of cooperation. In these cases, punishment opportunities reduce welfare. The results suggest that the experimenter’s choice of the punishment effectiveness is of great importance for the experimental outcome.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Anderson, C., & Putterman, L. (2006). Do non-strategic sanctions obey the law of demand? The demand for punishment in the voluntary contribution mechanism. Games and Economic Behavior, 54(1), 1–24
Bochet, O., Page, T., & Putterman, L. (2006). Communication and punishment in voluntary contribution experiments. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 60(1), 11–26
Carpenter, J. (2007a, in press). Punishing free-riders: how group size affects mutual monitoring and the provision of public goods. Games and Economic Behavior
Carpenter, J. (2007b). The demand for punishment. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 62, 522–542
Casari, M. (2005). On the design of peer punishment experiments. Experimental Economics, 8(2), 107–115
Cinyabuguma, M., Page, T., & Putterman, L. (2006). Can second-order punishment deter perverse punishment? Experimental Economics, 9, 265–279
Denant-Boemont, L., Masclet, D., & Noussair, C. (2007, in press). Punishment, counterpunishment and sanction enforcement in a social dilemma experiment. Economic Theory
Egas, M., & Riedl, A. (2005). The economics of altruistic punishment and the demise of cooperation. Tinbergen institute discussion Papers 05-065/1
Falk, A., Fehr, E., & Fischbacher, U. (2005). Driving forces behind informal sanctions. Econometrica, 73(6), 2017–2030
Fehr, E., & Gächter, S. (2000). Cooperation and punishment in public goods experiments. American Economic Review, 90(4), 980–994
Fehr, E., & Gächter, S. (2002). Altruistic punishment in humans. Nature, 415, 137–140
Fehr, E., & Schmidt, K. (1999). A theory of fairness, competition and co-operation. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 114, 817–868
Fischbacher, U. (2007). z-Tree: Zurich toolbox for ready-made economic experiments. Experimental Economics, 10(2), 171–178
Gürerk, O., Irlendbusch, B., & Rockenbach, B. (2006). The competitive advantage of sanctioning institutions. Science, 312, 108–111
Hollander, M., & Wolfe, D. A. (1999). Nonparametric statistical methods. New York: Wiley
Keser, C., & van Winden, F. (2000). Partners contribute more than strangers: conditional cooperation. Scandinavian Journal of Economics, 102(1), 23–39
Masclet, D., Noussair, C., Tucker, S., & Villeval, M. C. (2003). Monetary and non-monetary punishment in the voluntary contributions mechanism. American Economic Review, 93, 366–380
Masclet, D., & Villeval, M. C. (2006). Punishment, inequality and emotions. IZA Discussion Paper No. 2119
Nikiforakis, N. (2007, in press). Punishment and counter-punishment in public good games—can we really govern ourselves? Journal of Public Economics
Nikiforakis, N., & Normann, H. T. (2005). A comparative statics analysis of punishment in public-good experiments. Royal Holloway Discussion Papers Series, dpe05/7
Nikiforakis, N., Normann, H. T., & Wallace, B. (2007). Asymmetric enforcement of cooperation in a social dilemma. University of Melbourne Economics Working Paper No. 982
Noussair, C., & Tucker, S. (2005). Combining monetary and social sanctions to promote cooperation. Economic Inquiry, 43(3), 649–660
Ostrom, E., Walker, J., & Gardner, R. (1992). Covenants with and without a sword: self governance is possible. American Political Science Review, 86, 404–417
Page, T., Putterman, L., & Unel, B. (2005). Voluntary association in public goods experiments: reciprocity, mimicry and efficiency. The Economic Journal, 115(506), 1032–1053
Sefton, M., Shupp, R., & Walker, J. (2005). The effect of rewards and sanctions in provision of public goods. Ball State University, Department of Economics, Working Paper 200504
Varian, H. R. (1999). Intermediate microeconomics (5th ed.). New York: Norton
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Electronic Supplementary Material
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Nikiforakis, N., Normann, HT. A comparative statics analysis of punishment in public-good experiments. Exper Econ 11, 358–369 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10683-007-9171-3
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10683-007-9171-3