Public Good Experiment with Context : Applications to Farm Marketing Problems

The public good experiment has been used as both a teaching and research tool. In almost all instances it has been designed without reference to a specific public good or real-world application. This is done so participants' feelings or experiences involving the public good do not affect their behavior. In a teaching environment, however, the addition of context can further student understanding of the public good experiment and its applications to real-world issues. This paper shows how two farm marketing problems can be illustrated through the use of the public good experiment by adding context. The experiment also incorporates the idea of a communication period with students encouraged to find a solution to free riding as a lesson in the difficulties inherent with collusive agreements