Can Efficient Institutions Induce Cooperation Among Low Trust Agents?

Does the reliability of institutions affect public good contributions? Evidence from a laboratory experiment

“…In an iterated public goods experiment, Strimling et al . () find that, when faced with socially efficient institutions at the outset, even groups with low levels of social trust manage to achieve high‐yield collective outcomes. Conversely, if institutions are engaged in discrimination, clientelism, or patronage, individuals might feel compelled to engage in antisocial practices as well (Rothstein and Stolle, , p. 284).…”

“…Similarly, Bohnet and Huck (2004) establish experimental evidence that subjects' propensity to be trustworthy in the second phase of a trust game is driven by the reliability of institutions they were exposed to in the first phase. In an iterated public goods experiment, Strimling et al (2013) find that, when faced with socially efficient institutions at the outset, even groups with low levels of social trust manage to achieve high-yield collective outcomes. Conversely, if institutions are engaged in discrimination, clientelism, or patronage, individuals might feel compelled to engage in antisocial practices as well (Rothstein and Stolle, 2008, p. 284).…”

Solidarity, Diversity, and the Quality of Government

“…Instead, human behaviour is to a large extent determined by forward looking strategic thinking in the sense that what agents do, depends on what they think the other agents are going to do (Gintis et al 2005). Experimental studies show that people are willing to do "the right thing" but only if they can be convinced that most others are willing to do the same (Bicchieri and Xiao 2009;Strimling et al 2013). Thus, the idea of reciprocity recasts fundamentally how we should understand and explain human behaviour.…”