Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/200446 
Year of Publication: 
2017
Series/Report no.: 
CeDEx Discussion Paper Series No. 2017-12
Publisher: 
The University of Nottingham, Centre for Decision Research and Experimental Economics (CeDEx), Nottingham
Abstract: 
We study the effects of voluntary participation on cooperation in collective action problems. Voluntary participation may foster cooperation through a mechanism of assortative selection of interaction partners based on false consensus bias, or through a mechanism whereby the decision to not participate can be used as a threat against free-riders. We examine the effectiveness of these mechanisms in a one-shot public goods experiment. Voluntary participation has a positive effect on provision only through the threat of non-participation. Assortative selection of interaction partners seems to play a minor role in our setting, whereas the threat of non-participation is a powerful force to discipline free-riding.
Subjects: 
collective action
cooperation
voluntary participation
experiment
JEL: 
C91
D02
H41
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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