The private solution trap in collective action problems across 34 nations
Abstract
Collective action problems emerge when individual incentives and group interests are misaligned, as in the case of climate change. Individuals involved in these problems are generally considered to have two options: contribute toward public solutions such as global warming mitigation or free ride. However, many collective action problems today involve a third option of investing in a “private solution” such as local adaptation. The availability of this third option can lead to a private solution trap whereby private solutions are adopted, collectively optimal public solutions are not provided, and existing inequalities are exacerbated. We investigated the private solution trap with a collective action game featuring private and public solutions, wealth inequality determined by luck or merit, and participants from 34 countries. We found that the joint existence of private solutions and wealth inequality had a consistent effect across countries: Participants given a higher endowment adopted private solutions almost twice as often as those given a lower endowment, regardless of whether it was determined by luck or merit, and contributed proportionally less toward public solutions. Wealth inequality increased in every country and those given lower endowments were often left unprotected as public solutions were not provided. Across countries, cultural values of hierarchy and harmony were associated with preferences for private and public solutions, respectively. We also identified two universal pathways toward public solution provision: early contributions and conditional cooperation. Our findings highlight the ubiquity of the private solution trap, its cultural underpinnings, and its potential consequences for global collective action problems.
Article Details
Journal Info
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
National Academy of Sciences
Authors (72)
Eugene Malthouse
Centre for Decision Research and Experimental Economics, School of Economics, University of Nottingham
Charlie Pilgrim
School of Mathematics, University of Leeds
Daniel Sgroi
Department of Economics, University of Warwick
Michela Accerenzi
Fundación ETEA—Development Institute of Universidad Loyola Andalucía
Antonio Alfonso
Department of Applied Economics I, University of Seville
Rana Umair Ashraf
Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw
Max Baard
Environmental Policy Research Unit, University of Cape Town
Sanchayan Banerjee
School for Government, The Policy Institute, King’s College London
Alexis Belianin
National Research University Higher School of Economics
Swagata Bhattacharjee
Jindal School of Government and Public Policy, O.P. Jindal Global University
Mihir Bhattacharya
Department of Economics, Ashoka University
Pablo Brañas-Garza
Department of Finance, Loyola Behavioral Lab, Universidad Loyola Andalucía
Juan-Camilo Cárdenas
Facultad de Economía, Universidad de los Andes
Miguel Carriquiry
Instituto de Economía, Universidad de la República de Uruguay
Syngjoo Choi
Department of Economics, Seoul National University
Gwen-Jiro Clochard
Eduardo Ezekiel Denzon
John Gokongwei School of Management, Ateneo de Manila University
Bartlomiej Dessoulavy-Sliwinski
Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw
Giorgio Dini
Department of Economics, University of Bologna
Lu Dong
Southern University of Science and Technology
Antal Ertl
ELTE Centre for Economic and Regional Studies
Filippos Exadaktylos
Universidad de Barcelona
Emel Filiz-Ozbay
Department of Economics, University of Maryland
Sarah Lynn Flecke
Department of Experimental Psychology, University College London
Fabio Galeotti
CNRS
Teresa Garcia-Muñoz
University of Granada
Nobuyuki Hanaki
Institute of Social and Economics Research, University of Osaka
Guillaume Hollard
Center for Research in Economics and Statistics, École Polytechnique, Institut Polytechnique de Paris
Daniel Horn
ELTE Centre for Economic and Regional Studies
Lingbo Huang
Shandong University
Doruk İriş
Department of Economics, Sogang University
Hubert Janos Kiss
ELTE Centre for Economic and Regional Studies
Juliane Koch
Economics Department at Lund University School of Economics and Management
Jaromír Kovářík
Departamento de Análisis Económico
Osbert Kwabena Boadi Kwarteng
Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness, College of Basic and Applied Sciences, University of Ghana
Andreas Lange
Department of Economics, Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences of the University of Hamburg
Martin Leites
Universidad de la República de Uruguay
Thomas Ho-Fung Leung
University of Arizona
Wooyoung Lim
The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Meike Morren
Department of Marketing, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Laila Nockur
Department of Psychology and Behavioural Sciences, Aarhus University
Charles Yaw Okyere
Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness, College of Basic and Applied Sciences, University of Ghana
Mayada Oudah
Division of Social Science, New York University Abu Dhabi
Ali I. Ozkes
SKEMA Business School, Groupe de Recherche en Droit, Économie et Gestion, Université Côte d’Azur
Lionel Page
School of Economics, University of Queensland
Junghyun Park
Seoul National University
Stefan Pfattheicher
Department of Psychology, Aarhus University
Antonios Proestakis
Department of Nutrition and Dietetics Sciences, Hellenic Mediterranean University
Carlos Ramos
LoyolaBehLAB, Department of Finance, Universidad Loyola Andalucía
Mapi Ramos-Sosa
Department of Applied Economic Analysis, Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
Muhammad Saeed Ashraf
School of Tourism Management, Hengxing University of Science and Technology
Muhammad Ryan Sanjaya
Universitas Gadjah Mada, Kabupaten Sleman
Rene Schwaiger
Department of Banking and Finance, University of Innsbruck
Omar Sene
Alioune Diop University of Bambey
Fei Song
Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility, Shanghai Advanced Research Institute
Sarah Spycher
Department of Management, Technology, and Economics
Rostislav Staněk
Faculty of Economics and Administration, Masaryk University
Norman Tanchingco
John Gokongwei School of Management, Ateneo de Manila University
Alessandro Tavoni
Department of Economics, University of Bologna
Vera te Velde
School of Economics, University of Queensland
María José Vázquez-De Francisco
Fundación ETEA—Development Institute of Universidad Loyola Andalucía
Martine Visser
University of Cape Town
Joseph Tao-yi Wang
Willy Wang
School of Information, University of Michigan
Wei-Chien Weng
Katharina Werner
Department of Economics, University of Cologne
Amanda Wijayanti
Universitas Gadjah Mada, Kabupaten Sleman
Ralph Winkler
Department of Economics and Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research, University of Bern
John Wooders
Division of Social Science, New York University Abu Dhabi
Li Ying
Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Wei Zhen
Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Thomas Hills
Department of Psychology, University of Warwick