Abstract
In recent years, the world has witnessed losses to humanity caused by natural disasters. As these events become frequent, we rely more on cooperation to cope with the aftermaths and to prevent similar situations. However, it is not clear how people cooperate in the face of disasters, where losses can result from inadequate cooperation. By introducing stochastic shocks to a threshold public goods game where losses are randomly incurred when group contributions are below the threshold, this study pioneers an investigation on what happens to cooperation when disasters strike repeatedly. Compared to a control setting, cooperation is higher with uncertainties regarding when disasters may strike (timing), how much cooperation is required to avoid them (threshold level), and how much losses will be incurred (impact). The findings are similar in countries having different disaster risks the Philippines and Sweden. In an uncertain world where disasters exist, human cooperation can persist.