Research
ERC Project COOPERATION comprised four linked research themes, which all address key questions of interest to economists and other behavioural scientists.
- First, we investigated how incentives influence strong reciprocity: Under which conditions do incentives undermine or enhance strong reciprocity and thereby cooperation?
- Second, we investigated how strong reciprocity relates to social norms of cooperation and is shaped by social context.
- Third, we used cross-cultural experiments to study the role of cultural influences on strong reciprocity and how culture interacts with incentive structures: when does culture matter for cooperation?
- Finally, we studied personality and gender differences in strong reciprocity.
Data collection has finished. Relevant outputs are still forthcoming, and we will publish them here on an ongoing basis.
Illustration of research themes
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How is cooperation influenced by strong reciprocity and self-regarding incentives?
How is strong reciprocity shaped by....
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...self regarding incentives?
Theme One
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...peer effects and social norms?
Theme Two
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...cultural and societal background?
Theme Three
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...personality and gender differences?
Theme Four
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All projects use economic experiments and insights from across the behavioural sciences. The overarching objective is to develop a 'behavioural economics of cooperation', that is, the basic science of relevant behavioural principles that are needed to achieve sustainable cooperation.