The increasing heterogeneity of populations affects cooperation in common-pool resources in a time where the depletion of natural resources is a growing problem. This study investigates the effects of economic and sociocultural heterogeneity on trust and cooperation in common-pool resources using a laboratory experiment. The experiment comprises two Investment Games and a Common-Pool Resource Game, with a sample of 344 subjects from the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. By measuring the effects of economic and sociocultural heterogeneity separately as well as combined, this study disentangles the effects of specific heterogeneity types on cooperation in common-pool resources; something that has not been done before. Higher levels of trusting behaviour are found to have a positive effect on cooperation on the micro-and macro-level over time. While theory suggests negative effects of both forms of heterogeneity on cooperation through decreased levels of trust, the results show a surprising positive effect of economic heterogeneity on cooperation, but a negative effect if economic and sociocultural heterogeneity are combined. This study concludes that economic inequality can promote cooperation in CPRs, unless this inequality is lined up with sociocultural differences.
Increasing migration, leading to more heterogeneous societies, may challenge the successful management of common-pool resources (CPRs) directly due to the lack of shared interests, and indirectly by reducing trust amongst local commons users, speeding up depletion of vital natural and man-made resources. Since little research has been done on this topic, we analyse the relation between economic and sociocultural heterogeneity, trust and successful commons management for fisheries and irrigation systems. Using multiple imputations with chained equations, random forests and predictive mean matching, we adopt an innovative and technically advanced approach to employ Elinor Ostrom’s famous CPR Database. Our approach enables us to include economic and sociocultural heterogeneity, trust and control variables in one model and to investigate both direct and indirect effects of heterogeneity on CPR success, which has not been attempted before. Results show no evidence of the negative relation between heterogeneity and CPR success. However, economic heterogeneity is negatively related to trust, and trust is found to be positively related to CPR success. Evidence is found for an indirect effect of economic heterogeneity through trust on CPR success.
Rising migration numbers and the resulting increase in economic and sociocultural heterogeneity in societies all over the world are theorised to put pressure on the sustainable use of common-pool resources [CPRs]. Increased heterogeneity is argued to decrease trust and diversify interests between resource users, leading to overuse and decline of natural and man-made CPRs. The aim of this paper is to understand cooperative behaviour under economic and sociocultural heterogeneity in CPRs, through the analyses of experimental data including 344 subjects from the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, and 144 subjects from India. Multilevel regression, ordinal logistic regression, linear conditional-contribution profiles [LCPs] and agent-based models [ABMs] are used to analyse and replicate experimental outcomes on the micro- and macro-level. Results show that the combination of economic and sociocultural heterogeneity affects cooperation negatively when the decision-situation is perceived as unfair, but that neither economic nor sociocultural heterogeneity on themselves affect cooperation negatively. Economic heterogeneity is even found to affect cooperation positively relative to homogeneity. Player type classification based on LCP scores shows that experimental outcomes can be interpreted with player types, and ABM simulations validate the experimental results by replicating the main outcomes.
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