Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/232535 
Year of Publication: 
2021
Series/Report no.: 
GlobalFood Discussion Papers No. 148
Publisher: 
Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Research Training Group (RTG) 1666 - GlobalFood, Göttingen
Abstract: 
This paper examines the hypothesis that cooperation depends on the aspirations that individuals hold for their community welfare and tests whether videos that depict either a successful example of collective action or living conditions in rural areas can shape community aspirations and increase cooperation among rural communities in Zambia. The results of a lab in the field experiment indicate that compared with the no video condition, unconditional contributions are higher in the video that presents village life while the collective action video does not affect cooperation. When both contributors watch the village life video, conditional contributions are also higher compared to the control treatment. This points to the importance of social norms in the evolution of collective action. We find that individual aspirations are significantly negatively related to the unconditional contribution decision, while community aspirations do not correlate with contribution levels.
Subjects: 
aspiration
cooperation
role model
public good
social norms
development
JEL: 
C92
D70
D91
O12
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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