Heterogeneity, Communication, Coordination,
Cooperation and Voluntary Provision of a Public Good
McMaster University
Deptartment of Economics
McMaster University
Working Paper No.
Draft of February 2005
Abstract
The results of twenty-four laboratory sessions are evaluated with respect to the role of coordination and cooperation when communication is introduced into an environment in which voluntary contributions determine the level of public good provision to small groups of individuals which may be heterogeneous. Individuals experience both non-communication and communication treatments. Simple heterogeneity is introduced as one individual in a group having either greater income than the others or having a greater preference for the public good than the others. Complex heterogeneity exists if one individual in a group has both different income and preferences than the other two. Members of each group may or may not have information about others’ preferences and incomes. With communication, participants in complete information environments are less able to coordinate their contributions while those in incomplete information environments succeed more often. Successful coordination leads to cooperation and increased payoffs. Under complex heterogeneity payoff distributions widen with the introduction of communication. The data do not support the emergence of a particular pattern of coordination across all treatments.
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Stuart Mestelman
Department of Economics
McMaster University
Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4M4
Canada
e-mail: mestelma@mcmaster.ca
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