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The Limits of Self-Governance in the Presence of Spite: Experimental Evidence from Urban and Rural Russia
Simon Gaechter University of Nottingham; Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA); CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute for Economic Research) Benedikt Herrmann University of Nottingham - School of Economics July 2006 IZA Discussion Paper No. 2236 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.
Keywords: social norms, free riding, punishment, spite, experiments JEL Classifications: H41, C91, D23, C72 Working Paper SeriesDate posted: August 10, 2006 ; Last revised: August 10, 2006Suggested CitationContact Information
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