Dimensions of donation preferences: the structure of peer and income effects

Michalis Drouvelis and Benjamin Marx

Experimental Economics, 2021, vol. 24, issue 1, No 11, 274-302

Abstract: Abstract Charitable donations provide positive externalities and can potentially be increased with an understanding of donor preferences. We obtain a uniquely comprehensive characterization of donation motives using an experiment that varies treatments between and within subjects. Donations are increasing in peers’ donations and past subjects’ donations. These and other results suggest a model of heterogeneous beliefs about the social norm for giving. Estimation of such a model reveals substantial heterogeneity in subjects’ beliefs about and adherence to the norm. A simple fundraising strategy increases donations by an estimated 30% by exploiting previously unstudied correlations between dimensions of donor preferences.

Keywords: Charitable; Donation; Altruism; Warm glow; Social preferences; Peer effects; Experiment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A13 D01 D64 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (12)

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Working Paper: Dimensions of Donation Preferences: The Structure of Peer and Income Effects (2019)
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DOI: 10.1007/s10683-020-09661-z

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