Sharing with Minimal Regulation? Evidence from Neighborhood Book Exchange

Informal peer-to-peer services to share or barter goods often succumb to free riding behavior because they lack the tools to enforce compliance and reciprocity. We collect unique quantitative data on a form of unregulated peer-to-peer in-kind exchange that appears internationally viable: the free exchange of books via privately owned public bookcases, also known as little free libraries. Other than previously studied honor-based exchanges, little free libraries use a non-monetary one-to-one book exchange rate.

We find surprisingly limited free riding in this market. Users return 9 books for every 10 taken. An incentivized survey points to strong social norms and preferences for cooperation among owners and users as key behavioral primitives that can explain the observed high and stable level of reciprocal exchange.

Keywords: Peer-to-peer exchange; Honor systems; Free riding; Social norms; Altruistic preferences; Sharing economy

非正式的同行互助服务在共享或交换商品时往往容易遭受搭便车行为，这是因为它们缺乏强制遵守和互惠的工具。本研究收集了关于一种具有国际可行性的非监管性同行实物交换的独特定量数据：通过私有公共书架进行的免费书籍交换，亦称为微型免费图书馆。除了先前研究过的基于荣誉的交换外，微型免费图书馆采用一种非货币性的点对点书籍交换比率。我们发现，在这一市场中搭便车行为极为有限。用户归还的书籍数量是借阅数量的9比10。一项激励性的调查显示，强大的社会规范以及所有者与用户之间对合作的偏好是解释观察到的较高且稳定的互惠交换水平的关键行为原素。关键词：同行交换；荣誉体系；搭便车行为；社会规范；利他偏好；共享经济