Social capital to induce a contribution to environmental collective action: Results from a laboratory experiment in Indonesia

This paper examines whether social capital increases individual contribution in an environmental collective action. Using a laboratory experiment, two games are played among participants in a sequential manner: A trust game to measure level of trust - as a proxy for social capital - and a public goods game to measure individual contribution to environmental collective action in the case of waste collection management. The results show that the level of social capital positively impacts individual contribution to environmental collective action. This study also finds that disclosing partial information on a group member's behaviour in the previous trust game has an impact on people's willingness to pay for a public good. However, having partial knowledge as to whether a trustworthy or generous person exists in the group does not make any difference.