The generosity spillover effect of pledges in a two-person giving game

Damien Besancenot and Radu Vranceanu

Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), 2021, vol. 90, issue C

Abstract: This paper analyses the equilibrium of a two-person “pledge and give” game and tests its predictions in a lab experiment. Each person’s endowment is private information. In the first stage, each agent informs the other about the amount he/she intends to give. In the second stage, each agent makes a contribution to the joint donation. We show that a linear pledge function can be an equilibrium of the game. Furthermore, if agents have a strong taste for conformity, the equilibrium donation is positively related to one’s own endowment and to the pledge of his partner. In the lab, subjects pledged on average 60% of their income and donated on average 50% of their income. High pledges foster the generosity of the partner: an agent will increase the donation by 20 cents on average if the partner pledges one extra euro.

Keywords: Experiments; Giving; Communication; Pledges; Social influence (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C92 D64 D83 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:soceco:v:90:y:2021:i:c:s221480432030673x

DOI: 10.1016/j.socec.2020.101630

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