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Inequality, communication, and the avoidance of disastrous climate change in a public goods game.

Tavoni, Alessandro ORCID: 0000-0002-2057-5720, Dannenberg, Astrid, Kallis, Giorgos and Löschel, Andreas (2011) Inequality, communication, and the avoidance of disastrous climate change in a public goods game. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 108 (29). pp. 11825-11829. ISSN 0027-8424

Full text not available from this repository.
Identification Number: 10.1073/pnas.1102493108

Abstract

International efforts to provide global public goods often face the challenges of coordinating national contributions and distributing costs equitably in the face of uncertainty, inequality, and free-riding incentives. In an experimental setting, we distribute endowments unequally among a group of people who can reach a fixed target sum through successive money contributions, knowing that if they fail, they will lose all their remaining money with 50% probability. In some treatments, we give players the option to communicate intended contributions. We find that inequality reduces the prospects of reaching the target but that communication increases success dramatically. Successful groups tend to eliminate inequality over the course of the game, with rich players signaling willingness to redistribute early on. Our results suggest that coordination-promoting institutions and early redistribution from richer to poorer nations are both decisive for the avoidance of global calamities, such as disruptive climate change.

Item Type: Article
Official URL: http://www.pnas.org/
Additional Information: © 2011 National Academy of Sciences.
Divisions: Grantham Research Institute
Subjects: G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GE Environmental Sciences
H Social Sciences > HB Economic Theory
H Social Sciences > HN Social history and conditions. Social problems. Social reform
J Political Science > JZ International relations
JEL classification: Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics > Q5 - Environmental Economics
Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics > Q5 - Environmental Economics > Q54 - Climate; Natural Disasters
Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics > Q5 - Environmental Economics > Q56 - Environment and Development; Environment and Trade; Sustainability; Environmental Accounting; Environmental Equity
Date Deposited: 09 Aug 2012 16:34
Last Modified: 14 Feb 2024 00:10
Projects: Large-Scale Technological Change
Funders: Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy
URI: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/37363

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