FOI Seminar 11 November 2011

Lars Gårn Hansen and Toke Fosgaard (FOI)
(with Erik Wngström):

 

Disentangling framing effects in a public good game

 

Friday 11 November 2011, 12.30-13.30, Building A, first floor (the B.S. Jørgensen seminar room)

Abstract:

In a large scale internet experiment we investigate the effects of moving from a ‘give’ to a ‘take’ framing of a classical public good social dilemma. Our experimental design allows us to decompose the framing effect on contributions into parts caused by changes in preferences for cooperation, changes in beliefs about other group membes’ contributions and changes in game perception. These are the key causal mechanisms of framing that have been suggested in the literature. We find a small framing effect on mean contributions but a substantial shift in the underlying distribution: the ‘give’ frame induces a substantial reduction in the variance of contributions. We find that framing effects via beliefs are substantially more important than other mechanisms suggested in the literature but also that a substantial part of the framing effect on contributions remains unexplained.