Warm-Glow Giving and Freedom to Be Selfish

Ozgur Evren and Stefania Minardi

No 1011, HEC Research Papers Series from HEC Paris

Abstract: Warm-glow refers to other-serving behavior that is valuable for the actor per se, apart from its social implications. We provide axiomatic foundations for warm-glow by viewing it as a form of preference for larger choice sets driven by one's desire for freedom to act selfishly. Specifically, an individual who experiences warm-glow values the availability of selfish options even if she plans to act unselfishly. Our theory accommodates the empirical findings on motivation crowding out and provides clear-cut predictions for empirically distinguishing between warm-glow and other motivations for prosocial behavior, a task of obvious importance for policy. The choice behavior implied by our theory subsumes Riker and Ordeshook (1968) on voting and Andreoni (1989, 1990) on the provision of public goods.

Keywords: Warm-Glow; Freedom of Choice; Motivation Crowding Out; Altruism; Philanthropy; Public Goods; Ricardian Equivalence; Voter Turnout (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D11 D64 D81 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 53 pages
Date: 2013-08-20
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cdm and nep-evo
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Warm‐glow Giving and Freedom to be Selfish (2017)
Working Paper: Warm-Glow Giving and Freedom to Be Selfish (2013)
Working Paper: Warm-Glow Giving and Freedom to be Selfish (2011)
Working Paper: Warm-Glow Giving and Freedom to be Selfish (2011)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ebg:heccah:1011

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