查看文章

Understanding how humans sustain cooperation in large, anonymous societies remains a central question of both theoretical and practical importance. In the laboratory, experimental behavioural research using tools like public goods games suggests that cooperation can be sustained by institutional punishment—analogous to governments, police forces and other institutions that sanction free-riders on behalf of individuals in large societies^,,. In the real world, however, corruption can undermine the effectiveness of these institutions^,,,,. Levels of corruption correlate with institutional, economic and cultural factors, but the causal directions of these relationships are difficult to determine^,,–. Here, we experimentally model corruption by introducing the possibility of bribery. We investigate the effect of structural factors (a leader’s punitive power and economic potential), anti-corruption strategies (transparency and leader …