Welcome to the new version of CaltechAUTHORS. Login is currently restricted to library staff. If you notice any issues, please email coda@library.caltech.edu
Published December 1997 | Published
Journal Article Open

Anomalous Behavior in Linear Public Goods Experiments: How Much and Why?

  • 1. ROR icon California Institute of Technology

Abstract

We report the results of voluntary contributions experiments where subjects are randomly assigned different rates of return from their private consumption. These random assignments are changed round to round, enabling the measurement of individual player contribution rates as a function of that player's investment cost. We directly test these response functions for the presence of warm-glow and/or altruism effects. We find significant evidence for heterogeneous warm-glow effects that are, on average, low in magnitude. We statistically reject the presence of an altruism effect.

Acknowledgement

The financial support of the National Science Foundation is gratefully acknowledged. We thank Roger Gordon, R. Mark Isaac, John Ledyard, Jimmy Walker, Nat Wilcox, and four referees for offering helpful suggestions and comments. The views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the California Institute of Technology or the Federal Communications Commission. 

Additional Information

Published as Palfrey, Thomas R. and Prisbrey, Jeffrey E. (1997) Anomalous Behavior in Linear Public Goods Experiments: How Much and why? American Economic Review, 87 (5). pp. 829-846.

Files

Anomalous Behavior in Public Goods Experiments.pdf
Files (1.5 MB)

Additional details

Created:
December 1, 2023
Modified:
December 1, 2023