Heterogeneity, Trust and Sustainable Cooperation in CPRs: An Experimental Test

Abstract

"Natural resources are under an increasing pressure of overexploitation: overfi shing of the seas, deforestation of the rainforest and the unstustainable use of fresh water to cater the increasing consumption of humans have become every-day problems leading to the demise of natural resources. Sustainable cooperation within these common pool resource [CPR] set- tings is suggested to be hampered by an increasingly diverse population in terms of economic means and sociocultural characteristics, reducing mutual trust, which in its turn leads to lower individual cooperation and negative macro-outcomes for the resource. This study uses a CPR game in a laboratory experiment to investigate the effects of economic and sociocultural heterogeneity on trust and cooperation on both the micro and the macro level. Findings suggest a negative effect of sociocultural and the combination of sociocultural and economic heterogeneity, but a positive effect of economic heterogeneity under sociocultural homogeneity, compared to homogeneity on both fronts. Trust is found to have a positive effect on individual-level cooperation, and economic heterogeneity is found to have a positive effect on trust and perceived trustworthiness within the group."