Reciprocity, matching and conditional cooperation in two public goods games

Experimental and empirical evidence identifies social preferences and proposes competing models of such preferences. We find that participants match the contributions of others in the voluntary contribution mechanism (VCM). We also examine a game with different equilibria, the weakest link mechanism (WLM). Here, in contrast, participants match the minimum contribution of others. (c) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.