This paper provides a general framework that accounts for the decay of the average contribution observed in most experiments on voluntary contributions to a public good. Each player balances her material utility loss from contributing with her psychological utility loss of deviating from her...

In this article we examine the setting up of an eductive type of reasoning process in a negative feedback situation. We analyse a variant of a one-shot beauty contest game. Our results show a reasoning level of around 2 steps of introspection, which is enough to reach rapidly the rational...

In nonpoint source pollution problems, the regulator does not observe each polluter’s individual emission, which prevents him from using the conventional policy instruments. Therefore, new instruments have been designed to regulate this type of pollution. In an experiment, we compare the...

We investigate experimentally a new variant of the beauty contest game (BCG) in which players’ actions are strategic substitutes (a negative feedback BCG). Our results show that chosen numbers are closer to the rational expectation equilibrium than in a strategic complements environment...

Au cours d'une expérimentation, les auteurs ont étudié l'impact d'une nouvelle information concernant la sécurité alimentaire sur le consentement à payer des individus pour des produits alimentaires. Les prix ont été révélés à travers deux procédures d'enchères : soit des enchères...

We investigate experimentally whether “binding agreements†can provide a solution to the social dilemma that arises in the presence of pure public goods. Signing a binding agreement can prevent players from free riding on the contributions to the public good. However, a well known...

In a laboratory experiment, we investigate behavior in a principal–agent situation with moral hazard. We evaluate the predictive success of two theories. One is the standard agency theory, which assumes that the agent will accept any contract offer that satisfies his participation...

We provide a new experimental investigation of the neutrality theorem of Warr (1983), according to which “when a single public good is provided at positive levels by private individuals, its provision is unaffected by a redistribution of income". Our experimental design differs from Chan...