Communal returns to work often lead to low worker effort. Why does this happen? I. It happens because of the free-rider problem. II. Since the final payout depends on the number of people in the pool rather than an individual worker's effort, a worker does not have much incentive to work. III. It happens because workers learned from seeing the Chinese experience during ―The Great Leap Forward.‖

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The free-rider problem occurs when individuals can benefit from a group's activity without contributing to it. In a communal return to work, workers can benefit from the total output of the group without putting in the same level of effort as they would without communal returns, leading to low worker effort (I). Additionally, since the payout is based on the group's overall output and not on an individual worker's effort, there may be little incentive for workers to work harder (II). However, there is no evidence to suggest that workers' behavior in communal returns to work is influenced by the Chinese experience during "The Great Leap Forward" (III).

Communal Returns to Work Often Lead to Low Worker Effort