Why contribute? Freeloading is easier
Freeloading is the act of taking from others without contributing when it would be reasonable, and perhaps dutiful, to give back.
It may appear that freeloading is better than contributing—it is a chance to get something for nothing. And in a one-off interaction, it would be like getting something for free. But in the long-term, this would be like stepping over dollars to pick up dimes.
Why?
A couple of reasons. First, humans are social creatures who rely on each other to survive by cooperating with others. Unlike other animals, humans will cooperate with almost anyone provided they are suitable cooperation partners. As Baumard and Sperber explains,
[Humans] depend for their survival and welfare on frequent and varied cooperation with others. In the short run, it would often be advantageous to cheat, that is, to take the benefits of cooperation without paying the costs. Cheating however may seriously compromise one's reputation and one's chances of being able to benefit from future cooperation. In the long run, cooperators who can be relied upon to act in a mutually beneficial manner are likely to do better in what may be called the ‘cooperation market’
The first reason, then, is reputational: if you expect to prosper long-term, it is better, in general, to have a good reputation to better attract suitable cooperation partners.
What about the second? By contributing to a project or task, one thereby acquires some degree responsibility and credit over the project relative to the degree of one's contribution. And one acquires a degree of say in how the project is done—it confers a moral and practical legitimacy commensurate to the scope of one's contribution.
Freeloaders — more accurately, those who are known to be freeloaders — are unlikely to enjoy either of these long-term benefits for the simple reason that they do not contribute.
So how do freeloaders attempt to have their cake and eat it too, so to speak? They devise plausible sounding excuses to explain away their not contributing. As Hume explains,
Two neighbours may agree to drain a meadow, which they possess in common; because it is easy for them to know each others mind; and each must perceive, that the immediate consequence of his failing in his part, is, the abandoning the whole project. But it is very difficult, and indeed impossible, that a thousand persons should agree in any such action; it being difficult for them to concert so complicated a design, and still more difficult for them to execute it; while each seeks a pretext to free himself of the trouble and expence, and would lay the whole burden on others.
Looking for a plausible excuse to avoid giving back may work in the short-term, but it is unlikely to prove robust long-term for the simple reason that it is hard to generate good excuses over and over without looking like a freeloader. Unless, of course, one moves around a lot, looking for new opportunities to freeload—but just like contributing, that too can be costly. Better to contribute.
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