Individual Propensity to Co-operate? Some Preliminary Results from an Experimental Investigation

The paper reports on a theoretical framework for the study of the influence of globalisation on individual decision-making. The focus is on individual co-operative behaviour for the provision of public goods. First, I summarise relevant theories of globalisation and co-operation aiming to find a link between the two themes. Second, I illustrate the methodology of the research project “Globalisation, Co-operation and Trust: An Experimental Study”, which will carry out an international study on the subject. Finally, I report on some preliminary results from a pilot study of the project. The explanandum is individual propensity to co-operate measured in experiments of nested public goods problem. The main explanatory variables are four dimensions of individual access into globalisation processes, derived from a questionnaire. Of these four dimensions, the cultural and the social dimension of globalisation appear to have a strong explanatory power on individual co-operation rates, although they have different signs. The other two dimensions, economic and political, do not seem to have comprehensive explanatory power. The relationship with social identity is also analysed.