Voluntary contribution collapses over repeated rounds unless participants can punish free riders, at which point it stabilises.
Fehr and Gächter's 2000 experiments. Contributions collapse over ten rounds without punishment and stabilise high with it, even though punishing costs the punisher. It is the experimental case for costly enforcement.
In practice
- A street where somebody will knock on the door about the bins keeps its pavements clear, and the knocking costs the knocker.
- A shared workspace where anyone may challenge a mess stays clean; one where challenge is discouraged does not, and the cleaning rota is not the difference.
- Standing
- The experimental case for costly enforcement in commons governance.
- Subject
- Games & Strategic Interaction
- Essay
- What is provable, and what people actually do