Behavioral data on cooperative air pollution game under resource inequality
A citizen science behavioural dataset of an urban collective-risk dilemma on air pollution mitigation under resource inequality
Computers and Society
Summary
This study collected data from people in Barcelona playing a group game about sharing money to reach a pollution reduction goal. Players had different amounts of money depending on the group setup, with some groups having equal funds and others unequal. The data includes how much each person contributed over ten rounds, alongside their background, location, and views on fairness and pollution. The authors provide all the data and tools needed to explore how resource inequality affects cooperation on environmental issues.
What this means in practice
- •For behavioral scientists: Analyze how resource inequality influences cooperation in group efforts to reduce pollution using real-world experimental data.
- •For urban policy makers: Use detailed data on citizen contributions and attitudes to craft policies that address fairness and participation in urban pollution mitigation.
Authors
Marc Sadurní, Martín F. Díaz, Julián Vicens, Anna Cigarini, Isabelle Bonhoure, Miquel Montero, Josep Perelló
Abstract
This article describes a behavioural dataset from a collective-risk dilemma public experiment carried out in Barcelona, Spain, within the citizen science \textit{xAire} air quality project. Participants played a ten-round game in groups of six, each deciding every round how many monetary units to contribute from a private endowment toward a shared target; groups that fell short forfeited all remaining capital. Three endowment treatments held the group total fixed: an equal condition and two unequal conditions in which low-endowment participants formed either the minority or the majority of the group. Data were collected at two public outdoor venues using a tablet-based interface under lab-in-the-field protocols. Participants were recruited on-site from a demographically heterogeneous pool of individuals passing through the venues, mostly local residents. The dataset comprises 462 participants across 77 six-player games, 4\,620 contribution decisions in total. Each participant record links the full ten-round contribution trajectory to initial endowment, wealth treatment, venue, district of residence and its measured nitrogen-dioxide concentration, and socio-demographic and attitudinal survey items covering gender, age, education, economic and working status, air-quality perception, fairness norms, environmental-justice beliefs, residential mobility, and community participation. The release provides raw and cleaned participant tables, a variable codebook, the survey instrument, the district-pollution linkage, and the preprocessing code.