Institutional choice and cooperation in representative democracies : an experimental approach

This paper examines whether an institution has a differing impa ct on cooperation if it is introduced by a representative of the affected partie s rather than exogenously imposed. The experimental design is able to control for selec tion effects arising from the democratic policy choice. I find evidence of a large democracy premium in the sense that endogenously implemented institutions lead to m ore cooperation than iden- tical exogenous institutions. Especially the subjects who i nitially did not prefer the policy comply if it was brought about by an elected represent ative. The results have implications for the analysis of decision-making processe s and policy recommendations in general.