Group contests are ubiquitous. Some examples include warfare between countries,
competition between political parties, team‐incentives within firms, and rent‐seeking. In …

The observation of behaviour is a key theoretical parameter underlying a number of models
of prosociality. However, the empirical findings showing the effect of observability on …

This natural field experiment tests the effects of purely symbolic awards on volunteer
retention in a public goods context. The experiment is conducted at Wikipedia, which faces …

Impersonal cooperation among strangers enables societies to create valuable public goods,
such as infrastructure, public services, and democracy. Several factors have been proposed …

We experimentally investigate the effect of social identification and information feedback on
individual behavior in contests. In all treatments, we find significant overexpenditure of effort …

Why do individuals volunteer their time even when recipients receive far less value than the
donor's opportunity cost? Previous models of altruism that focus on the overall impact of a …

A charitable donor typically imitates the majority contribution of other donors. This study
examines the relationships between majority size and this so-called donor's conformity …

Acts of dishonesty permeate life. Understanding their origins, and what mechanisms help to
attenuate such acts is an underexplored area of research. This study takes an economic …

Cooperation among strangers has been hypothesized to have declined in the United States
over the past several decades, an alarming trend that has potential far-reaching societal …

Some economists argue that consumption of publicly visible goods is driven by social status.
Making a causal inference about this claim is difficult with observational data. We conduct an …