Fragmented Society and Provision of Meeting Places to Foster Social Preferences

Abstract

This paper explores the possibility of improving efficiency in a society by providing meeting places for a fragmented society. In experimental and behavioral game theory, it is known that under certain circumstances, cooperation among people is supported by social preferences—or others-regarding preferences—which makes people's decision criterion mutually interdependent. In particular, for problems requiring cooperation among people, like provision of public goods, social preferences help if people recognize each other and are given a certain punishment opportunity. In the case of the fragmented society, this kind of mechanism may not work well as people do not necessarily refer to others belonging to a different group. In this paper, we explore the possibility of creating an opportunity to meet face-to-face, which might extend the reference group of people's social preferences. Further, we consider creating some opportunities for reaching an agreement with each other, which would indeed help enhance efficiency in the society.