The inter-group comparison-intra-group cooperation hypothesis: comparisons between groups increase efficiency in public goods provision.

ABSTRACT: Identifying methods to increase cooperation and efficiency in public goods provision is of vital interest for human societies. The methods that have been proposed often incur costs that (more than) destroy the efficiency gains through increased cooperation. It has for example been shown that inter-group conflict increases intra-group cooperation, however at the cost of collective efficiency. We propose a new method that makes use of the positive effects associated with inter-group competition but avoids the detrimental (cost) effects of a structural conflict. We show that the mere comparison to another structurally independent group increases both the level of intra-group cooperation and overall efficiency. The advantage of this new method is that it directly transfers the benefits from in

SUBMITTER: Bohm R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3566068 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature