Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/2123/8090

Title: The discreet charm of the collective contract
Authors: Chong, Sophia
Guillen, Pablo
School of Economics
Keywords: laboratory experiments
gift exchange
collective contracts
Issue Date: Feb-2012
Publisher: School of Economics
Series/Report no.: 2012-03
Abstract: We compare individual with collective contracts using variations of a repeated gift- exchange game. Firms consist of one employer and three workers. In the individual variation (I) different workers can receive separate wages. In the collective variation (C) workers receive the same wage. I and C are played altering the order across sessions resulting in four treatments: 1I, 1C, 2I, 2C. The wage offered in the first period of 1C is significantly higher than the wage offered in the first period of 1I. Average wage and effort become indistinguishable in phase 1 afterwards. Individual contracts resulted on higher average effort but undistinguishable wages when comparing 2I with 2C. In spite of an experimental design favourable to individual contracts, collective contracts fared unexpectedly well.
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2123/8090
Department/Unit/Centre: School of Economics
Appears in Collections:Working Papers - Economics

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