Björn Vollan1, Andreas Landmann2, Yexin Zhou3, Biliang Hu4, Carsten Herrmann-Pillath5
1. School of Business and Economics, University of Marburg;
2. Paris School of Economics, J-PAL and Center for Evaluation and Development (C4ED);
3. China Institute of Innovation and Development, School of Economics and Resource Management, Beijing Normal University;
4. Dean of Emerging Markets Institute, Beijing Normal University;
5. Max Weber Centre for Advanced Cultural and Social Studies, Erfurt University
Abstract:
Using samples of both students and workers in China and comparing democratic decision making (i.e. being able to choose one's rules) to non-democratic decision making (i.e. exogenously imposed rule), we show that Chinese participants cooperate the most in a public goods game under the stylized authoritarian environment. This finding may be surprising in light of previous evidence for a “democracy premium” but is in line with authoritarian norms which are prominent in China. We further show that there is a systematic association between participants’ values and their relative contribution decisions in exogenous and endogenous implementation of the rule. Our major finding is that those subjects that place greater value on accepting authority are responsible for greater levels of cooperation under top-down governance. Our findings provide evidence that the effectiveness of a political institution depends on its congruence with individual values and societal norms.
Key words:
Legitimacy of legal sanctions; Authoritarian values; Democratic voting; Public goods; China
Reference:
Vollan B, Landmann A, Zhou Y, et al. Cooperation and authoritarian values: An experimental study in China[J]. European Economic Review, 2017, 93: 90-105.
Link:
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.euroecorev.2017.01.007