A real effort vs. standard public goods experiment: Asking for effort does make a difference

Abstract

This paper reports results from an exploratory experimental study (N $=$ 181) comparing an effort based public good game to a standard public good game — each presented in a gain and a loss frame. The data show lower average contributions and more free-riders in the effort treatments, with the most notable effect showing for men in the loss frame (comparing standard vs. effort, contributions drop from 76.7% to 17.0%, free-riders increase from 8.3% to 82.6%, full-contributors drop from 50.0% to 13.0%). The findings suggest that the provision of public goods might face more impediments than common experimental findings from the lab would indicate. Moreover, they suggest that especially men become more self-focused when required to mitigate a loss with effort. Given that many environmental public goods are about avoiding losses by taking action, the latter result seems to be relevant from a policy perspective.