Declare or Commit? Pre-Announcing Contributions to a Public Good
Prof. Jaimie LIEN
Distinguished Professor
Center for Economic Research
Shandong University
Date: 4 February 2026 (Wednesday)
Time: 14:30-16:00
Venue: E22-G015
Host: Prof. Jia YUAN, Associate Professor in Business Economics
Abstract
We introduce a voluntary commitment mechanism for public goods provision which is highly effective in the laboratory, and can be considered for implementation in problems such as climate agreements. We study a 2×2 design of treatments varying by whether players have to commit to or merely declare their contributions (declare vs. commit), and whether the declaration/commitment is at the individual or group level (individual vs. group). We find that declarations alone are ineffective, and that there is no relationship between individuals’ declarations and contributions, resulting in poor outcomes. In the Individual Commitment treatment, while subjects adhere to their commitments, the overall commitment level is low. In all of these treatments, payoffs are decreasing in contributions made, and a substantial static norm of zero contributions develops. Only the Group Commitment treatment succeeds in achieving an increasing pattern of commitment and contributions, and converges rapidly to a predominant norm of full contributions.
Speaker
Prof Jaimie W. LIEN is University Distinguished Professor at Shandong University, and Co-Director for the Center for Research on Experimental and Theoretical Economics (CREATE). Dr. Lien received her B.A in Economics and Mathematics from Wellesley College, M.A. and Ph.D. in Economics from University of California, San Diego. She is an Associate Editor for International Journal of Finance and Economics, Scientific Reports, and Humanities and Social Science Communications.
Her main research fields are behavioral economics, experimental economics and applied microeconomics. She has published about 30 research papers in journals including Nature Communications, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, American Economic Review (Papers and Proceedings), Economic Journal, Games and Economic Behavior, Experimental Economics, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, Economic Development and Cultural Change, and Economic Inquiry.
All are welcome!
