This document provides instructions for participants in a decision-making exercise involving a public water supply system. It outlines: 1) There are two player types - a Provider who invests in system maintenance, and Users who consume water. Players will remain anonymous. 2) Users have options to pay for the current system, exit to another system, or petition the Provider to improve the system. The Provider chooses investment amounts. 3) Players' earnings depend on the decisions made and the resulting system performance, which fluctuates based on the Provider's investment. 4) The instructions explain the decision options and potential earnings outcomes for each round of the multiple-round exercise. Players have time limits to make decisions in

1. Instructions for
the 1st set of rounds

2. • You have an opportunity to earn some money by engaging in today’s decision exercise.
• Please follow all instructions—this may help the chance of earning more money.
• You will play in a group together with three other REAL people. You will remain anonymous.
• It is important that you complete this exercise until the end without interruptions.
• Please NEVER click 'Go back' or 'Reload' button. Please DO NOT close this window/browser or leave this
exercise’s web pages during the exercise.
• It will take about 45 to 50 minutes to complete.
Introduction
Your earnings ($) from engaging in this exercise
• You will earn $1 for watching the video instruction and taking a quiz.
• You can get $2 bonus for completing until the end.
• In addition, you can earn more! Up to an extra of about $9 by making decisions.
• The more TOKENS you collect , the more money you will be paid at the end of the decision exercise.
• Each TOKEN is worth 3.5 cents.
• Your earnings will depend on the decisions made by you AND the other members of your group.

3. • The Provider can invest in the maintenance of the system
performance. At the same time, the Provider collects fees from
Users who use the public water supply.
• Users can consume water delivered by the system for basic
necessities such as drinking, cooking, and sanitation, which affects
their benefit.
• The benefit Users derive from using the public water supply
depends on the performance of the system. The performance of the
system, in turn, depends on the Provider’s investment in the system
maintenance.
• Some time ago, an unexpected event happened in the area. This
event introduces UNPREDICTABLE FLUCTUATIONS in the
performance of the public water supply system.
The basic model of the decision exercise
• This exercise mimics decisions people make in public water supply systems which provides water to homes in an area.
• There are two types of participants that make decisions on this system: a Provider and three Users.
• Your role will be randomly assigned and will NOT be changed during the entire exercise.

4. What are decision options available to the players in each round?
Users have three options:
• PAY for the service “as is” despite fluctuations in the performance
of the water supply system.
• EXIT (or leave) the area and use a DIFFERENT public water supply
system ELSEWHERE which DOES NOT experience fluctuations in
performance.
• PETITION the Provider to improve the system while still paying to
use its service.
The Provider has two options:
• INVEST 5 tokens or INVEST 15 tokens in the maintenance of the
water supply system.
• Choosing INVEST 15 tokens can lead to better system performance
compared to choosing INVEST 5 tokens.
You and 3 other players will play multiple rounds
with these decision choices

5. The system performance and the net benefit to Users
When the Provider chooses INVEST 15 tokens AND two or more Users choose PAY or PETITION:
The corresponding “net” benefit Users
obtain will also vary from round to round
between 7 tokens and 15 tokens.
The system performance will vary from round to round between 60% and 100%.
Otherwise (for example, the Provider chooses INVEST 15 tokens but only one or zero User chooses PAY or PETITION,
OR the Provider chooses INVEST 5 tokens):
The system performance will be at 50% or below.
As a result, the “net” benefit to Users is
5 tokens.

6. What are User’s decision options and earning outcomes?
• At the beginning of each round, each User is endowed with 10 tokens.
• Each User then decides what to do with this endowment between three options: EXIT, PAY, and PETITION.
• If a user decides to use the tokens to EXIT the area and consume water from a different public water supply system, the user will obtain a fixed “net”
benefit of 10 tokens.
• If a User decides to PAY to the Provider to use water “as is”, there are two possible outcomes:
1) When the Provider chooses INVEST 15 tokens AND two or more Users choose PAY or PETITION, the system performance will vary
between 60% and 100%. When this happens, earnings will fluctuate from round to round between 7 tokens and 15 tokens.
2) Otherwise, the system performance is 50% or below and a User will earn 5 tokens as his or her benefit.
• If a User decides to PETITION the Provider, then there are two possible outcomes. Note that a PETITION not only costs the Farmer 2 tokens, but also
deducts 5 tokens from the Provider.
1) When the Provider chooses INVESTS 15 tokens AND two or more Users choose PAY or PETITION, the system performance will vary between 60%
and 100%. When this happens, the earnings will fluctuate between 5 tokens and 13 tokens because of 2 tokens are deducted for making PETITION.
2) Otherwise, the system performance is 50% or below and the earnings will be 3 tokens because of 2 tokens are deducted for the same reason.

7. What are Provider’s decision options and earning outcomes?
• The Provider has two options: INVEST 5 tokens and INVEST 15 tokens.
• The Provider’s earnings will be further deducted by 5 tokens for each User choosing PETITION.
• If the Provider decides to INVEST 5 tokens, the Provider will earn the tokens remaining after the collected tokens are deducted
by BOTH 5 tokens investment cost and PETITIONS.
• If the Provider decides to INVEST 15 tokens, the Provider will earn the tokens remaining after the collected tokens are
deducted by BOTH 15 tokens investment cost and PETITIONS.
• Note that the Provider’s earnings can NOT be less than zero in this experiment.
Example
• Suppose that 2 Users choose PETITION, and 1 User chooses PAY. Then, the Provider receives 30 tokens from three Users. If the
Provider decides to INVEST 15 tokens, the Provider has 15 tokens remaining after the investment cost. However, because 2
Users chose PETITON, 10 tokens will be further deducted from the Provider’s earnings. Thus, the Provider will earn 5 tokens.
30 tokens (2 Users PETITION & 1 User PAY)
– 15 tokens (INVEST 15 tokens)
– 10 tokens (Two PETITIONs)
5 tokens (Provider’s earning)
Example

8. Time Constraint
 Make your decision within 1 min
 After this, you will see a warning message for 1 min
 If you need more time, please click Continue and get extra 1 min
Please note that there is a time constraint for decision
making in each round.

9. Next, you will take a short quiz and play 2 practice rounds of the decision exercise.
After that, you and 3 other players will play the first set of rounds of this decision exercise.