Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/76376 
Year of Publication: 
2003
Series/Report no.: 
CESifo Working Paper No. 954
Publisher: 
Center for Economic Studies and ifo Institute (CESifo), Munich
Abstract: 
Field evidence suggests that agents belonging to the same group tend to behave similarly, i.e., behavior exhibits social interaction effects. Testing for such effects raises severe identification problems. We conduct an experiment that avoids these problems. The main design feature is that each subject simultaneously is a member of two randomly assigned and economically identical groups where only members ( neighbors') are different. In both groups subjects make contribution decisions to a public good. We speak of social interactions if the same subject at the same time makes group-specific contributions that depend on their respective neighbors' contribution. Our results are unambiguous evidence for social interactions. A majority of subjects is very strongly influenced by the contributions of their respective neighbors. Roughly ten percent exhibit no social interactions.
Subjects: 
social interactions
identification
experiments
Document Type: 
Working Paper
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