Community Composition and Collective Action: Analyzing Initial Mail Response to the 2000 Census
分析社区异质性如何影响居民完成并寄回2000年人口普查问卷的决策，发现种族、代际和社会经济阶层的异质性显著降低县级回复率。
This paper analyzes how community heterogeneity influences resident decisions to undertake actions generating public benefits. The decision in question is completing and returning the 2000 Census questionnaire, an action which secures a significant amount of federal grants for the community. The model developed to explain this action allows members of societal groups to differentially value public benefits that accrue to other group members. Racial, generational, and socioeconomic class heterogeneity all predict significantly lower response rates at the county level. The potential for endogenous sorting into heterogeneous counties implies that the magnitude of true behavioral effects exceeds these estimates. 2004 President and Fellows of Harvard College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.