Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/162750 
Year of Publication: 
2017
Series/Report no.: 
CREDIT Research Paper No. 17/05
Publisher: 
The University of Nottingham, Centre for Research in Economic Development and International Trade (CREDIT), Nottingham
Abstract: 
We adopt a mixed methods approach to investigate whether and how heterogeneity in individual returns to a public good affects contributions. We engage smallholder farmers in Sri Lanka in: a one-shot, framed, lab-in-the-field experiment, within which the farmers' rates of return to the public good are exogenously varied; and a survey including a question about their willingness to contribute time to the construction of a specific, relevant to them public good. In the former, we find weak evidence that heterogeneity in individual returns increases contributions. In the latter we find that those facing higher returns contribute more. We conclude that heterogeneity in returns does not explain why collective action remains a challenge in farming communities in developing countries.
Subjects: 
lab-type behavioural experiment
collective action
heterogeneity
public goods
JEL: 
C93
D81
O12
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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