How inclusive political institutions can foster cooperative norms that reinforce prosocial behaviours

Cooperation towards a common cause is seen as appropriate behaviour in society but it comes at a cost. There are those who pay their taxes and contribute toward public goods, and those who do not but get to enjoy these benefits for free – rather like taking a bus ride without paying for it. So how do we change this attitude? What shapes norms and values that promote cooperation? And what can we do to encourage such values?

Prominent scholars like Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill have advocated that participatory decision-making can foster a culture of cooperation, but evidence has remained elusive. In a new paper published in Econometrica, Assistant Professor Devesh Rustagi uses data from Switzerland to investigate whether participatory self-governing institutions, a hallmark of democratic society, contribute towards a culture of cooperation.

A major challenge in conducting this investigation is the standard chicken-egg conundrum. What came first? Is it self-governance that fosters norms of cooperation or is it the other way round.

In the Middle Ages several noble dynasties ruled large parts of Switzerland on behalf of the Holy Roman Emperor. These nobles oversaw a feudal system which empowered them an absolute say in decision-making, such as collection of taxes and delivery of justice. Typically, ordinary people such as tradesmen and peasants had very little say in the decision-making process.

In 1218 things changed when the last Duke of the Zaehringen dynasty died without an heir. Rather than distribute the Zaehringen land to the other dynasties, and make them too large and powerful, the emperor took the decision to give these areas the right to self-governance. Consequently, we can be confident that the extinction of the Zaehringen dynasty affected only political institutions but did not directly affect the norms of people.

Over time, the self-governing areas brought in participatory styles of decision-making, such as voting in public assemblies and the inclusion of individuals from different interest groups in the councils. The British ambassador to the city of Bern in 1714 left a fascinating account of self-governance in some of these places.

In contrast, areas under the control of the remaining noble houses remained under feudalism until Napoleon invaded Switzerland and liberated them in 1803. This gap between those early and late self-governing areas together with low historical mobility provided an opportunity to analyse the differences in norms and prosocial behaviours of people residing in these places.

In early self-governing areas, people demonstrated a stronger tendency to cooperate if others do the same “conditional cooperation”, even when this means foregoing more money. This willingness to forego that extra money shows that people have acquired a norm of cooperation. Similar results were found when analysing the data on tax cheating, false benefits claims, lying in own interests, and willingness to accept bribes. These norms are linked to prosocial behaviours like charitable giving, environmental protection, and above all, strong participating in voting consistently for over 150 years.

Today, the early self-governing areas are also more likely to use direct democracy to arrive at decision-making and also have stronger support for democracy.

Commenting on the findings Devesh Rustagi, Assistant Professor and CAGE Research Associate said:

"Overall, the evidence shows that good institutions in early self-governing areas have led to good values – and in turn those good values reinforce the importance of self-governance. These values have persisted over time due to the transmission of values from parents and society to children through generations.

 "Such norms and values have long term implications for prosocial behaviour and democratic participation. It demonstrates that the interaction between institutions and culture can lead to patterns that could endure over time."

• Read the full research paper: Historical Self-Governance and Norms of Cooperation