【主讲】陈涛 (University of Waterloo，教授)
【主题】Seeing is “behaving”: Using revealed-strategy approach to understand cooperation in social dilemma（Authors: Tao Chen, Sining Wang, Wan Wang, Lei Chen）
【时间】2018年5月28日 (周一) 15：30-17：00
【地点】上海财经大学经济学院楼701室
【语言】英文
【摘要】One common assumption in the study of economic behaviors is that decisions reveal underlying motivations. However, a single observed behavior may be the complex product of internal factors (e.g., motivations) and external influences (e.g., social norm). Indeed, research begins to show the pitfalls of such assumption in understanding behaviors and informing policy-making. We propose a revealed-strategy approach to explain and predict the dynamic of cooperation in social dilemma without making assumptions of people’s preferences, beliefs, or motivations. In a public goods game experiment, we demonstrate how our approach captures individual’s unique behavioral pattern independent of and/or in response to others’ behaviors. Using unsupervised machine learning, we classify participants’ dynamic behaviors into five distinctive and stable strategy profiles, which are free-riders (FR), lower-than-signal cooperators (LC), higher-than-signal cooperators (HC), unconditional cooperators (UC), and hump-shaped cooperators (HS). Notably, the hump-shaped type has only been discussed theoretically, but has not been identified empirically. Using two simulations, we further demonstrate how the revealed-strategy approach can inform policy-making. In particular, policies influencing perceived cooperative norm can effectively promote cooperation in the society. We encourage future research to extend the implication of the reveal-strategy approach in diverse contexts.
