Experimental game reveals that the freedom to choose preferred public goods greatly increases their
Experimental game reveals that the freedom to choose preferred public goods greatly increases their
Experimental game reveals that the freedom to choose preferred public goods greatly increases their value
July 14, 2020
Summary
From climate and biodiversity to public health and law enforcement, public goods benefit all.
Now, a study by an international group of researches shows that the ability to freely choose preferred public goods adds to their value by increasing participation rates.
Under control conditions, players could only decide whether to participate in public goods provision or not.
Players under treatment conditions could additionally decide how much to contribute to each of the public goods within their reach.
A player with access to five different public goods would, by opting to participate under control conditions, contribute one unit of wealth to each of the public goods for a total contribution of five units.
The same player under treatment conditions would also contribute a total of five units of wealth, but with a caveat that how much goes to each of the five public goods is subject to free will.
Changing the network configuration does not appear to affect player decisions in any significant way, whereas letting players distribute their wealth freely increases participation in public goods provision, motivates better provisioning, and thus adds value to public goods.
"Policymakers could facilitate raising residential taxes by offering a portfolio of public goods for taxpayers to choose from," write the researchers in their study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Freedom of choice adds value to public goods, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Reference
Experimental game reveals that the freedom to choose preferred public goods greatly increases their value. (2020, July 14). Retrieved July 17, 2020, from https://phys.org/news/2020-07-experimental-game-reveals-freedom-goods.html