Document Type
Article
Publication Date
12-19-2015
Abstract
This study reveals the existence of a causal link between the availability of money and an expanded scale of interaction. We constructed an experiment where participants chose the group size, either a low-value partnership or a high-value group of strangers, and then faced an intertemporal cooperative task. Theoretically, a monetary system was inessential to achieve cooperation. Empirically, without a working monetary system, participants were reluctant to expand the scale of interaction; and when they did, they ended up destroying surplus compared to partnerships, because cooperation collapsed in large groups. This economic failure was reversed only when participants managed to concurrently develop a stable monetary system.
Recommended Citation
Bigoni, M., Camera, G., & Casari, M. (2015). Money and the scale of cooperation. ESI Working Paper 15-28. Retrieved from http://digitalcommons.chapman.edu/esi_working_papers/177
Comments
Working Paper 15-28