Abstract
The paper takes up the conflict between expressed preferences for collective goods, such as environmental quality, and actual behaviour in society. In discussing possible reasons for this attitude-behaviour inconsistency found in empirical studies, a distinction is made between preferences and choices.
The inconsistency of preference orderings and possible biases in preference revelation are first analyzed. The major part of the paper deals with the strategic behaviour of individuals when they choose whether to cooperate or act as free riders. Various actor types and appropriate incentives for creating cooperative behaviour are discussed in detail. Finally, societies are categorized according to their principal ways of attempting to secure the provision of collective goods.
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© 1989 Kluwer Academic Publishers
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Uusitalo, L. (1989). Economic Man or Social Man — Exploring Free Riding in the Production of Collective Goods. In: Grunert, K.G., Ölander, F. (eds) Understanding Economic Behaviour. Theory and Decision Library, vol 11. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-2470-3_16
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-2470-3_16
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-010-7614-2
Online ISBN: 978-94-009-2470-3
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