Conference Agenda

Intergenerational public goods, such as climate change mitigation or resource preservation, depend on the willingness of current generations to incur costs for benefits they will not directly enjoy. Leadership has been proposed as a key mechanism to foster cooperation for the sake of future generations, yet its efficacy and dynamics remain poorly understood. In this study, we provide causal evidence on the role of leadership in promoting intergenerational resource conservation using the intergenerational goods game (IGG), an experimental paradigm in which successive groups make decisions that affect future generations. Our findings reveal that groups with a leader significantly outperform leaderless groups in sustaining resources, even in groups where self-interested preferences predominate. However, voluntary leadership is rare, and the mere opportunity for leadership can backfire: if no leader emerges, outcomes are no better or even worse than in a experimental condition where leadership opportunities are absent. These results highlight both the potential and the limitations of leadership in addressing intergenerational challenges, offering novel insights for designing policies aimed at sustaining public goods critical for future generations.