Mixed-strategy Kant-Nash equilibrium and private contributions to a public good

Abstract

This paper models situations where contributors to a public good belong to two distinct behavioral types: Kantian and Nashian. In particular, we study how the expected level of aggregate contribution to public good may change across mixed strategy equilibria when the proportion of Kantian in the population changes. The model provides a simple theoretical account of the observed phenomenon that the extent of private provision of public goods varies considerably across time and across countries that have similar levels of per capita income.