Salience, Coordination and Cooperation in Contributing to Threshold Public Goods

Abstract

We present results from a multiple public goods experiment, where each public good produces benefits only if total contributions to it reach a minimum threshold. The experiment allows us to compare a subject's behavior in a benchmark treatment with a single public good and in treatments with more public goods than can be funded. We show how the availability of additional, more efficient public goods may not make subjects better off. This is because additional options decrease the probability of coordination and discourage contributions. Introducing additional, less-efficient options does not alter coordination and contributions relative to the benchmark.

Keywords: threshold public goods, multiple public goods, salience, efficiency, laboratory experiment

JEL Classification: C91, C92, H40, H41