Does Government Regulation Complement Existing Community Efforts to Support Cooperation? Evidence from Field Experiments in Colombia

49 Pages Posted: 31 Jul 2008

See all articles by Maria Claudia Lopez

Maria Claudia Lopez

affiliation not provided to SSRN

James J. Murphy

University of Alaska Anchorage

John M. Spraggon

University of Massachusetts at Amherst - College of Natural Resources & the Environment - Department of Resource Economics

John Stranlund

University of Massachusetts at Amherst - College of Natural Resources & the Environment - Department of Resource Economics

Date Written: July 28, 2008

Abstract

In this paper we describe a field experiment conducted among mollusk harvesters in a community on the Pacific Coast of Columbia. The experiment is based on a standard linear public good and consists of two stages. In the first stage we compare the ability of monetary and nonmonetary sanctions among community members to increase contributions to the public good. In the second stage we add a government regulation with either a high or low sanction for noncompliance to community enforcement efforts. The results for the first stage are consistent with other comparisons of monetary and nonmonetary sanctions within groups; both led to higher contributions. The results from the second stage reveal that government regulations always complemented community enforcement efforts. While the subjects tended to reduce their sanctioning efforts under the government regulations, contributions and earnings were significantly higher than without government interventions. In fact, the combination of community and government enforcement efforts generated near-perfect contributions to the public good. However, more research into the combined roles of government intervention and community enforcement efforts is needed because the complementarity we find may be situation-specific.

Keywords: Field experiments, public goods, government regulation, community enforcement

JEL Classification: C93, H41, Q2

Suggested Citation

Lopez, Maria Claudia and Murphy, James J. and Spraggon, John M. and Stranlund, John, Does Government Regulation Complement Existing Community Efforts to Support Cooperation? Evidence from Field Experiments in Colombia (July 28, 2008). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1183674 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1183674

Maria Claudia Lopez (Contact Author)

affiliation not provided to SSRN ( email )

James J. Murphy

University of Alaska Anchorage ( email )

Anchorage, AK
United States
907-786-1936 (Phone)

HOME PAGE: http://faculty.cbpp.uaa.alaska.edu/jmurphy/

John M. Spraggon

University of Massachusetts at Amherst - College of Natural Resources & the Environment - Department of Resource Economics ( email )

Stockbridge Hall
80 Campus Center Way
Amherst, MA 01003-9246
United States

John Stranlund

University of Massachusetts at Amherst - College of Natural Resources & the Environment - Department of Resource Economics ( email )

Stockbridge Hall
80 Campus Center Way
Amherst, MA 01003-9246
United States
413-545-6328 (Phone)

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