Institute of Economics
Department of Environmental and
Behavioral Economics
Prof. Dr. Astrid Dannenberg
[email protected]
A Literature Review on Common-Pool Resource Games
Since Elinor Ostrom’s (1990) well-received contribution on the tragedy of the commons, there
has been a growing body of literature on common-pool resource games. Faysse (2005)
provides an overview on a number of factors that have an impact on the outcome of commonpool resource games. But while the literature on public goods games has been systematically
examined in a meta-analysis by Zelmer (2003), such an overview has not been made with
regard to common-pool resource games, even though there are systematic differences
between the two games (Apesteguia & Maier Rigaud 2006).
The aim of this bachelor thesis is to provide a comprehensive literature review on experiments
on common-pool resource games. Moreover, general findings are derived from this literature
and summarized. The literature review can be complemented by descriptive statistics of the
parameters chosen in the experiments and possibly a short empirical meta-analysis of the
findings in the literature.
Apesteguia, J.; Maier-Rigaud Frank P. (2006): The Role of Rivalry. Public Goods versus
Common-Pool Resources. In Journal of Conflict Resolution 50 (5), pp. 646–663.
Faysse, Nicolas (2005): Coping with the Tragedy of the Commons. Game Structure and Design
of Rules. In J Economic Surveys 19 (2), pp. 239–261.
Ostrom, E. (1990): Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action.
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Zelmer, Jennifer (2003): Linear Public Goods Experiments: A Meta-Analysis. In: Experimental
Economics 6 (3), pp. 299–310.
Requirements:
 Basic knowledge of economic experiments
 First experiences with statistical software (R or stata) or the willingness to learn about
it
Examiner: Prof. Dr. Astrid Dannenberg
Advisor: Sven Christens
More information, literature, and further guidance are available upon request from Sven
Christens, Tel.: +49 561 804-1814, [email protected]
Date: 31.10.2016