People behave pro-socially in a wide variety of situations that standard economic theory is unable to explain. Social comparison is one explanation for such pro-social behavior: people contributeif others contribute or cooperate as well....

Most economic models are based on the self-interest-hypothesis that assumes that all people are exklusively motivated by their material self-interest. In recent years experimental economists have gathered overwhelming evidence that systematically refutes the self-interest hypothesis and...

In this paper we study experimentally four remedies to overcome inefficienciesthat arise from the incompleteness of contracts...

In standard economic theory human beings are portrayed as selfish money-maximizing actors. This book investigates the conditions under which people deviate from this prediction and when they are prepared to contribute to the common good in a more altruistic fashion. Based on field experiments...

Concern about potential free riding in the provision of public goods has a long history. More recently, experimental economists have turned their attention to the conditions under which free riding would be expected to occur. A model of free riding is provided here which demonstrates that...

Why do people engage in costly cooperation with unknown others that they will never meet again? Answers to this evolutionary puzzle emphasize the role of indirect reciprocity (i.e., cooperation through reputation), whereby cooperation is not reciprocated by the recipient but by other members of...

This chapter presents some insights from basic behavioural research on the role of human pro-social motivation to maintain social order. I argue that social order can be conceptualised as a public good game. Past attempts to explain social order typically relied on the assumption of selfish and...

This chapter presents some insights from basic behavioural research on the role of human pro-social motivation to maintain social order. I argue that social order can be conceptualized as a public good game. Past attempts to explain social order typically relied on the assumption of selfish and...