Rewards and punishments can cajole people into cooperating, but they are costly to implement. A theoretical study finds that, when participation in group activities is optional, punishing uncooperative behaviour is the cheaper method.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Relevant articles
Open Access articles citing this article.
-
Voluntary rewards mediate the evolution of pool punishment for maintaining public goods in large populations
Scientific Reports Open Access 10 March 2015
-
The Evolution of Cooperation Through Institutional Incentives and Optional Participation
Dynamic Games and Applications Open Access 17 August 2013
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
References
Locke, J. Some Thoughts Concerning Education (Cambridge Univ. Press, 1889).
Ostrom, E., Walker, J. M. & Gardner, R. Am. Polit. Sci. Rev. 86, 404–417 (1992).
Fehr, E. & Gächter, S. Nature 415, 137–140 (2002).
Sigmund, K. Trends Ecol. Evol. 22, 593–600 (2007).
Ule, A., Schram, A., Riedl, A. & Cason, T. N. Science 326, 1701–1704 (2009).
Bowles, S. & Gintis, H. A Cooperative Species: Human Reciprocity and its Evolution (Princeton Univ. Press, 2011).
Balliet, D., Mulder, L. B. & Van Lange, P. A. Psychol. Bull. 137, 594–615 (2011).
Chaudhuri, A. Exp. Econ. 14, 47–83 (2011).
Sasaki, T., Brännström, Å., Dieckmann, U. & Sigmund, K. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 109, 1165–1169 (2012).
Sefton, M., Shupp, R. & Walker, J. M. Econ. Inquiry 45, 671–690 (2007).
Rand, D. G., Dreber, A., Ellingsen, T., Fudenberg, D. & Nowak, M. A. Science 325, 1272–1275 (2009).
Sutter, M., Haigner, S. & Kocher, M. G. Rev. Econ. Stud. 77, 1540–1566 (2010).
Nikiforakis, N. & Normann, H.-T. Exp. Econ. 11, 358–369 (2008).
Gächter, S., Renner, E. & Sefton, M. Science 322, 1510 (2008).
Olson, M. The Logic of Collective Action (Harvard Univ. Press, 1965).
Poteete, A. R., Janssen, M. A. & Ostrom, E. Working Together: Collective Action, the Commons, and Multiple Methods in Practice (Princeton Univ. Press, 2010).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Gächter, S. Carrot or stick?. Nature 483, 39–40 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/483039a
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/483039a
This article is cited by
-
Voluntary rewards mediate the evolution of pool punishment for maintaining public goods in large populations
Scientific Reports (2015)
-
The Evolution of Cooperation Through Institutional Incentives and Optional Participation
Dynamic Games and Applications (2014)