Intertemporal Altruism

Felix Chopra, Armin Falk and Thomas Graeber

American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, 2024, vol. 16, issue 1, 329-57

Abstract: Most prosocial decisions involve intertemporal trade-offs. Yet, the timing of prosocial utility flows is ambiguous and bypassed by most models of other-regarding preferences. We study the behavioral implications of the time structure of prosocial utility, leveraging a conceptual distinction between consequence-dated and choice-dated utility flows. We conduct a high-stakes donation experiment that comprehensively characterizes discounting behavior in self–other trade-offs and allows us to identify different prosocial motives from their distinct time profiles. Our data can only be explained by a combination of choice- and consequence-dated prosocial utility. Both motives are pervasive and negatively correlated at the individual level.

JEL-codes: D15 D64 D91 I12 L31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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Working Paper: Intertemporal Altruism (2021)
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DOI: 10.1257/mic.20210319

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