TY - JOUR
T1 - Polarization and Group Cooperation
AU - Robbett, Andrea
AU - Matthews, Peter
PY - 2023/4/11
Y1 - 2023/4/11
N2 - Does increased partisanship undermine the ability of politically heterogeneous groups to function and cooperate in apolitical settings? On the eve of the 2020 U.S. elections, we conducted an online experiment in which Democrats and Republicans played repeated public goods games, both with and without punishment. Absent punishment, mixed-party groups are less cooperative and efficient than homogeneous groups. However, polarized groups fare no worse than those in which political affiliations are unknown. We find no differences in cooperation across groups that are able to punish free-riding behavior. Thus, knowing that one is in a group with like-minded individuals can serve as a substitute for an enforcement mechanism, but polarized groups can, at some efficiency cost, achieve similar contributions when sanctions are possible.
AB - Does increased partisanship undermine the ability of politically heterogeneous groups to function and cooperate in apolitical settings? On the eve of the 2020 U.S. elections, we conducted an online experiment in which Democrats and Republicans played repeated public goods games, both with and without punishment. Absent punishment, mixed-party groups are less cooperative and efficient than homogeneous groups. However, polarized groups fare no worse than those in which political affiliations are unknown. We find no differences in cooperation across groups that are able to punish free-riding behavior. Thus, knowing that one is in a group with like-minded individuals can serve as a substitute for an enforcement mechanism, but polarized groups can, at some efficiency cost, achieve similar contributions when sanctions are possible.
KW - Social dilemmas
KW - Affective polarization
KW - Cooperation
KW - Experimental economics
KW - Experimental political science
KW - Political polarization
KW - Public goods
UR - https://www.webofscience.com/api/gateway?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=aalto_pure&SrcAuth=WosAPI&KeyUT=WOS:001028996200003&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=WOS
U2 - 10.1561/100.00021036
DO - 10.1561/100.00021036
M3 - Article
SN - 1554-0626
VL - 18
SP - 215
EP - 241
JO - Quarterly Journal of Political Science
JF - Quarterly Journal of Political Science
IS - 2
ER -