Children's Altruism in Public Good and Dictator Experiments

William Harbaugh () and Kate Krause

Economic Inquiry, 2000, vol. 38, issue 1, pages 95-109

Abstract: We examine the development of altruistic and free-riding behavior in 6-12 year-old children. We find that the level of altruistic behavior in children is similar to that of adults but that repetition has a different effect. Younger children's contributions of older children, like those of adults, tend to decline. Group attachment is associated with higher contributions. Contributions in a subsequent dictator experiment are correlated with first-round contributions in the public good experiment, but are not strongly correlated with last-round contributions. Copyright 2000 by Oxford University Press.

View citations in EconPapers

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.oup.co.uk/journals

Access Statistics for this article

Economic Inquiry is edited by Preston McAfee

More articles in Economic Inquiry from Oxford University Press
Address: Oxford University Press, Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP, UK
Series data maintained by Christopher F. Baum ().