"Inequality and Peer Punishment in a Common-pool Resource Experiment"
Date
2020-03
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Abstract
We test the effect of inequality on peer punishment in a common-pool resource (CPR) experiment with equal endowments (Equal) or unequal endowments (Unequal). Peer punishment reduces extractions in both treatments, but it is more effective in Unequal. Subjects with lower endowments coordinated around an Equal Earnings norm, subjects with higher endowments matched, and peer punishment tightened this coordinate-and-match dynamic. By contrast, there was less coordination in Equal, and as a result, more peer punishment and lower payoffs.
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Keywords
Inequality; Common-Pool Resources; Cooperation; Peer Punishment
Citation
Inequality and Peer Punishment in a Common-pool Resource Experiment by De Geest, Lawrence R. Suffolk University and Kingsley, David C. University of Massachusetts Lowell, March 2020.