Altruism in governance: Insights from randomized training for Pakistan's junior ministers

Sultan Mehmood, Shaheen Naseer and Daniel L. Chen
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Shaheen Naseer: University of Oxford
Daniel L. Chen: TSE-R - Toulouse School of Economics - UT Capitole - Université Toulouse Capitole - UT - Université de Toulouse - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement, CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique

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Abstract: Randomizing different schools of thought in training altruism finds that training junior deputy ministers in the utility of empathy renders at least a 0.4 standard deviation increase in altruism. Treated ministers increased their perspective-taking: blood donations doubled, but only when blood banks requested their exact blood type. Perspective-taking in strategic dilemmas improved. Field measures such as orphanage visits and volunteering in impoverished schools also increased, as did their test scores in teamwork assessments in policy scenarios. Overall, our results underscore that the utility of empathy can be a parsimonious foundation for the formation of prosociality, even impacting the behavior of adults in the field.

Date: 2024-09
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Published in The Journal of Development Studies, 2024, 170, pp.103317. ⟨10.1016/j.jdeveco.2024.103317⟩

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Journal Article: Altruism in governance: Insights from randomized training for Pakistan's junior ministers (2024)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04869767

DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2024.103317

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