HETEROGENEITIES, INFORMATION AND CONFLICT-RESOLUTION - EXPERIMENTAL-EVIDENCE ON SHARING CONTRACTS

A growing body of field and experimental literature provides considera ble evidence that individuals may adopt self-governing institutions th at enable conflict resolution. This paper examines this issue by explo ring the role of heterogeneity in individuals' production capabilities and past investments as an obstacle to conflict resolution. Results a re presented from two ongoing research programs: (1) individual and gr oup decision making in the context of a commonly held resource that is subtractable in units of appropriation and (2) ex post negotiation of surplus shares in incomplete contracts. Both programs have been desig ned to investigate conflict resolution when subjects are heterogenous in costly investments they have incurred.