A "Public Goods" Game
Each person starts with a "bank" of 10 points. Imagine that these
points represent something of value (e.g. 100 dollars per point). We
will play a series of "rounds" of a game. Each round has the following
structure.
- At the start of the round, each person writes in secret how much
they will contribute to a "public pot"; this amount cannot be more
than your current bank. You will also write a copy of
this number on a separate piece of paper anonymously to be
handed to the administrator.
- These papers will be passed to the game administrator and
shuffled.
- The administrator will sum the combined amounts of contributions,
add 10% of the total to this
amount, and divide the resulting number by the number of people
playing, regardless of level of contribution. This latter amount will
be announced and is called the "distributed amount." The
administrator will also announce the different amounts that were
contributed.
- You will then: subtract your contributed amount from your bank and
add the distributed amount to your bank.
- The game continues until the administrator announces the last round of
play.