Framing effects in linear public good games

What is it about?

It has long been recognised that the way a public good game is framed can influence the amount people are willing to contribute. This is interesting for two basic reasons: (i) it suggests ways we can increase cooperation in groups, and (ii) it provides clues as to why people are willing to cooperate. To learn the right lessons, however, it is crucial we keep a careful eye on the different ways in which frames can vary. In this paper I look back through the literature and highlight the distinction between give-take and negative-positive framing dimensions. The negative-positive framing dimension captures whether the positive externality of contributing to the public good or the negative externality from not contributing to the public good are emphasized. For instance, if the framing says things likes ‘for every $1 you contribute to the public good everyone in the group receives $0.40’ it is a positive frame. While, if it says ‘for every $1 you do not contribute to the public good everyone loses $0.40’ it is a negative frame. The prior literature shows consistent and clear evidence that contributions are higher with a positive frame compared to a negative frame. The give-take dimension captures whether a person is asked to contribute to a public good (the give frame) or withdraw funds from a public good (the take frame). The literature has typically assumed that a give frame is a positive frame and a take frame is a negative frame. This, however, need not be the case. Indeed, when recent studies were classified on both the give-take and negative-positive framing dimensions I found that a number of studies effectively compare a positive-give with a positive-take frame. And another set of studies compare a positive-give with a negative-take frame. Existing results on the give-take framing effect are typically seen as ‘mixed’. I argue that once we account for the negative-positive framing dimension the results become a little clearer. In particular, the evidence from those studies which use a positive frame throughout suggests that there is no give-take framing effect. Instead, everything appears to be driven by the negative-positive framing effect. This finding helps make sense of the existing results in the literature. It should, however, be seen as a preliminary finding because there is an inevitable element of subjectivity in classifying frames.

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