Higher monetary stakes rarely change mean experimental outcomes.

Evidence

However, a recent meta-study of Camerer and Hogarth (1999) indicates that the modal effect of stake size on mean experimental outcomes is zero (though variance is usually reduced by higher payment). This coincides with the results of a similar study by Smith and Walker (1993). Moreover, Brandts and Charness (2000) as well as Cason and Mui (1998) report evidence indicating that the strategy method does not induce different behaviors. — Ernst Fehr, Third-Party Punishment and Social Norms, 26

Categorization

• QUESTION: This seems to contradict the strategy-method worry in paragraph 24; worth understanding when stakes do and don’t matter.