CeDEx 2017-12: The Effect of Voluntary Participation on Cooperation

Summary

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.

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Now published online in the Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization

This is a revised version of 2015-20

Authors

 

Daniele Nosenzo and Fabio Tufano

 

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