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When a few undermine the whole: a class of social dilemmas in ridesharing

Accepted version
Peer-reviewed

Type

Article

Change log

Authors

Rapoport, A 
Qi, H 
Gisches, EJ 

Abstract

We investigate a class of social dilemmas that arise when a heterogeneous group of agents potentially benefit from a joint enterprise such as ridesharing. Participation in the enterprise incurs positive externalities to other participants; social welfare is maximized with full participation. However, if some agents find it a dominant strategy to opt out, then the potential benefit from the enterprise will decrease, leading to more members opting out. This iterated disincentivizing effect could result in massive welfare losses. We construct a game-theoretical model to implement these social dilemmas and report experimental evidence for their existence and welfare impact.

Description

Keywords

Social dilemmas, Ridesharing, Cost-sharing, Route choice in traffic networks, Heterogeneous decision makers, Experiment

Journal Title

Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

0167-2681
1879-1751

Volume Title

166

Publisher

Elsevier BV
Sponsorship
National Science Foundation (NSF) (via University of Nevada, Las Vegas) (15-784G-00)
NSF Grant SES-1418923