Abstract (eng)
This thesis examines the effect of short and irreversible exclusion on cooperation in a public goods game. The starting point is the proposition of Hirshleifer and Rasmusen (1989), that claims that the duration of the exclusion does not have an effect on contributions. In this thesis, an economic experiment is used to test the above mentioned proposition. Findings are, that in a public goods game using short exclusion, subjects contributed more and the efficiency was higher than in a standard public goods game. In a public goods game using irreversible exclusion, the contributions and efficiency were even higher. The findings of this experiment support the idea, that ostracism, and the threat of it, is an effective way to enhance cooperation in a public goods environment and that the duration has a different effect on contributions and efficiency.