Leading by Words: A Voluntary Contribution ExperimentWith One-Way Communication

In this paper, we study a voluntary contribution mechanism withone-way communication. The relevance of one person’s words is assessedby assigning exogeniously the role of the ‘communicator’ to onegroup member. Contrary to the view that the mutual exchange ofpromises is necessary for the cooperation-enhancing effect of communication,we find that, compared to a standard voluntary contributionmechanism with no communication, one-way communication significantlyincreases contributions and renders them stable over time.[...]