Inequality, Social Sanctions and Cooperation within South African Fishing

dc.creatorVisser, Martine
dc.creatorBurns, Justine
dc.date2013-11-28T19:58:43Z
dc.date2013-11-28T19:58:43Z
dc.date2013-11
dc.date.accessioned2015-05-28T10:06:30Z
dc.date.available2015-05-28T10:06:30Z
dc.date.issued2015-05-28
dc.descriptionWe explore the effect of income inequality and social attitudes on the cooperation and sanctioning in nine South African fishing communities where allocation of fishing rights have been unequal and controversial. In the Punishment treatment aggregate contributions towards the public good are significantly higher amongst unequal groups, with low endowment players contributing the greatest endowment share. Sanctioning is significantly lower in unequal groups but demand for punishment is similar, irrespective of differences in relative costs. Free-riding drives punishment, but retaliation is another important motivator (specifically in unequal groups). In equal groups "antisocial" punishment of co-operators is more common. The effect of real wealth and inequality on contributions and punishment is less salient possibly due to real wealth not being discernible in the experimental context. Interestingly, social attitudes are important in explaining sanctioning behaviour, indicating that distrust in formal institutions and specifically in the top-down quota allocation process may have a significant impact on behavioural outcomes and the effectiveness of community sanctioning mechanisms.
dc.descriptionJEL Classification: C9,D63,H41,Q2
dc.descriptionMartine Visser is Associate Professor within School of Economics at the University of Cape Town. She is on the Executive Committees of the Environmental–Economics Policy Research Unit (EPRU) and the Research Unit for Behavioral Economics and Neuroeconomics (RUBEN) and a research associate of the South African Labour and Development Research Unit (SALDRU). She is also on the Steering Committee for the African Climate Development Initiative (ACDI). Justine is an Associate Professor in the School of Economics, and a research associate of the Southern African Labour and Development Research Unit.
dc.identifier978-1-920517-58-8
dc.identifierhttp://hdl.handle.net/11090/681
dc.identifier.ris TY - Working Paper DA - 2015-05-28 DB - OpenUCT DP - University of Cape Town KW - Inequality KW - Cooperation KW - Punishment KW - Public goods experiments LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 2015 T1 - Inequality, Social Sanctions and Cooperation within South African Fishing TI - Inequality, Social Sanctions and Cooperation within South African Fishing UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11090/681 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11090/681
dc.languageen
dc.publisherSouthern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit
dc.publisher.departmentSALDRUen_ZA
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Commerceen_ZA
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape Town
dc.relationSALDRU Working Papers;117
dc.subjectInequality
dc.subjectCooperation
dc.subjectPunishment
dc.subjectPublic goods experiments
dc.titleInequality, Social Sanctions and Cooperation within South African Fishing
dc.typeWorking Paper
uct.type.publicationResearchen_ZA
uct.type.resourceWorking Paperen_ZA
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