Team competition when there is within-team inequality

摘要

In experiments, contributions to a team public good increase when the team competes with another team for a prize. In our experiment, this insight generalises to internally unequal teams. Indeed, in some cases the boost to public goods contributions is bigger with unequal teams than equal ones. We also find that the boost to contributions is most significant among the 'rich' in the team. Hence, competition not only promotes efficiency, it also reduces inequality in our experiment.