Doctoral Dissertation Research: Discounting the Future in Strategic Interactions in a Heterogeneous Population

以族裔和社会特征的其他方面为形式的多样性的增加与公共产品的减少有关（Easterly和Levine，1997年; Alesina et.al，2003年）。然而，大多数研究并没有考虑到提供公益物隐含的时间方面，即往往是现在付出代价，以后才从公益物中得到好处。虽然大量且不断增长的文献研究了个体决策中的跨期选择，但除了Deck和Jahedi（2011）-他们研究了竞争环境中的贴现行为-很少有研究提供关于个体如何在战略互动中做出跨期选择的经验证据。在本项目中，共同主要利益者将探讨：1）在未来实现收益时，收益的时间安排如何影响自愿捐款，包括对他人如何贴现未来的预期是否影响决策，2）捐款的时间安排如何影响自愿捐款，以及3）在战略性、社会异质性环境中，个人如何贴现未来提供的公共产品。为了解决这些问题，该研究采用了一种新颖的实验设计，该设计改变了（a）在自愿捐款机制（VCM）游戏中从公共产品和私人消费中获得收益的时间，（B）在VCM游戏中对公共产品的捐款时间，以及c）公共产品博弈参与者的社会异质性，基于他们与学生文化组织的隶属关系。就更广泛的影响而言，这一研究将有助于阐明社会距离、时间偏好及其相互作用在公共物品提供中的作用。实证研究结果，行为解开的时间和社会偏好的作用，在集体行动的情况下，将有助于解释机制的不合作时，异质人群相互作用，以提供公共产品与延迟的好处。此外，这种调查的结果可以为许多政策和现实生活中的决定提供信息，以及其他具有战略意义的跨期选择。研究结果将对关注跨期选择和公共产品提供的学者和政策制定者具有相关性。

Increased diversity, in the form of ethnicity and other dimensions of social identity, is associated with decreased provision of public goods (Easterly and Levine, 1997; Alesina et.al, 2003). Most studies, however, do not consider the implicitly embedded temporal dimension in the provision of public goods, i.e. often the costs are incurred now and the benefits from the public good received later. While a voluminous and growing literature investigates intertemporal choices in individual decisions, other than Deck and Jahedi (2011) - who examine discounting behavior in a competitive environment - there is little research providing empirical evidence on how individuals make intertemporal choices in strategic interactions. In this project the co-PI will address: 1) how the timing of benefits affects voluntary contributions when the benefits are realized in the future, including whether expectation of how others' discount the future influences decision-making, 2) how the timing of contributions affects voluntary contributions, and 3) how individuals discount future provision of public goods in strategic, socially heterogeneous environments. To address these questions, the study employs a novel experimental design that varies (a) the timing of benefits received from public goods and from private consumption in a Voluntary Contribution Mechanism (VCM) game, (b) the timing of contributions towards public goods in the VCM game, and c) the social heterogeneity of participants in the public goods game based on their affiliation with student cultural organizations.In terms of broader impacts, this research will help shed light on the roles of social distance, temporal preferences and their interactions in the provision of public goods. Empirical findings that behaviorally unpack the role of time and social preferences in collective action scenarios will contribute to explaining the mechanisms of non-cooperation when heterogeneous populations interact to provide public goods with delayed benefits. Furthermore, the findings of such a line of inquiry could inform many policy and real-life decisions, in addition to other intertemporal choices that have a strategic component to them. Study findings will be of relevance to scholars and policy-makers concerned with intertemporal choice and the provision of public goods.