The Effect of Nonbinding Agreements on Cooperation among Forest User Groups in Nepaland Ethiopia

Dannenberg, Astrid ; Martinsson, Peter

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: AUTHORS;    FREE RIDERS;    VALUE;    BANK;    GOVERNMENT;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-7325
RP-ID  :  WPS7325

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

This paper summarizes the results frompublic goods experiments investigating the effect ofnonbinding agreements on cooperation. Unlike previousstudies, this experimental study was conducted among membersof forest user groups in Ethiopia and Nepal with longhistories of social interdependence. These countries arealso characterized by a high degree of collectivism.Overall, the results show a weak effect of nonbindingagreements on cooperation in the two locations. The mainreason for this is that the cooperation level is relativelyhigh even without an agreement and only a small proportionof subjects change their behavior when the agreement optionis introduced. Nonetheless, the research indicates that thewillingness to enter an agreement varies between subjectsand strongly correlates with their cooperativeness.