Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/33825 
Year of Publication: 
2006
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 2236
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
We report evidence from public goods experiments with and without punishment which we conducted in Russia with 566 urban and rural participants of young and mature age cohorts. Russia is interesting for studying voluntary cooperation because of its long history of collectivism, and a huge urban-rural gap. In contrast to previous experiments we find no cooperation-enhancing effect of punishment. An important reason is that there is substantial spiteful punishment of high contributors in all four subject pools. Thus, spite undermines the scope for self-governance in the sense of high levels of voluntary cooperation that are sustained by sanctioning free riders only.
Subjects: 
social norms
free riding
punishment
spite
experiments
JEL: 
H41
C91
D23
C72
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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