Abstract
Public goods games study cooperation based on how much participants decide to give to the group and how much they keep to themselves. Evidence in these games shows that a majority of the participants are conditional cooperators who reciprocate how others contribute to the group. However, it is not clear if people continue to cooperate conditionally when there is disaster uncertainty or a constant risk for disasters to strike and recur anytime. In many situations, disasters or random events that lead to losses for everyone, result when the level of cooperation is insufficient. This study theoretically and empirically shows that conditional cooperation is tamed by disaster uncertainty. Conditionality and free-riding attenuates while unconditional cooperation accelerates in the face of disaster. The findings are consistent in countries with different disaster exposures Sweden, South Africa and the Philippines. This strongly suggests that high levels of cooperation can prevail, without being dependent on reciprocity, in a world with disaster uncertainty.