A Competitive Approach to Leadership in Public Good Games

Résumé

We show that introducing a competitive preliminary stage in a sequential public good game helps select one of the more cooperative leaders in the group. Using a modified second price auction, we find that bids have a strong positive predictive power on individual contributions. Moreover, evidence is provided that trust can explain voluntary and cooperative leadership. However, followers reaction to voluntary leaders may rise free riding behaviour, with uncertain effect on total public good provision.

Mots-clés

Public good experiment Leadership Self-selection Cooperation Trust Public good provision;

Codes JEL

A13: Relation of Economics to Social Values
C72: Noncooperative Games
C92: Laboratory, Group Behavior
H41: Public Goods
Z13: Economic Sociology • Economic Anthropology • Social and Economic Stratification