What did the results show? On average, people voluntarily contributed 40 to 60 percent of their resources to the provision of the public good. Some free riding therefore was present in the sense that the subjects failed to contribute a substantial portion of their resources. On the other hand, the results flatly contradicted the notion that free riding will lead to zero or trivial amounts of a public good. People's notions of fairness and responsibility may work counter to the pursuit of narrow self-interest.