期刊名称：Discussion Papers in Economics / Department of Economics, Royal Holloway
出版年度：2005
卷号：2005
出版社：University of London
摘要：This paper provides a comparative statics analysis of punishment in public-good experiments.
We vary systematically the effectiveness of punishment, that is, the factor by which
punishment reduces the punished player’s income, and we find that contributions to the public
good increase monotonically in effectiveness. High effectiveness leads to near complete contribution
rates and welfare improvements. Below a certain threshold, however, punishment
cannot prevent the decay of cooperation found in the public-good game without punishment.
In these cases, the possibility to punish may even worsen welfare. Finally, we show that
punishment is a normal and inferior good.
