Preferences for punishments: explorations from a stated-choice experiment in Japan

Previous studies have shown that punishment can increase and stabilize cooperation in many situations. In this study, we conducted an online stated-choice experiment in Japan to elicit respondents' preferences for different types of punishments that they thought should be imposed on uncooperative people to encourage cooperation within a team. We observed heterogeneity in preferences for different types of punishment among individuals in different preference groups, as estimated from the latent class logit model. Our results suggest that several socioeconomic characteristics are associated with the classification of preference groups.

Automated summary

In this study, an online experiment was conducted in Japan to investigate individuals' preferences for different types of punishments as a means to promote cooperation within a team. The results showed heterogeneity in preferences for punishment types among different preference groups, and suggested that socioeconomic characteristics are associated with the classification of preference groups.