The Misaddressed Letter Experiment

Gweneth Leigh and Andrew Leigh
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Gweneth Leigh: Independent Researcher

No 11315, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: We design a new field experiment to test pro-social behaviour: will a household return a letter that has been incorrectly addressed? On average, we find that half of all letters were returned. Return rates do not vary significantly according to the gender, race or ethnicity of the fictitious addressee. However, return rates are higher in more affluent neighbourhoods.

Keywords: discrimination; field experiments; altruism (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C93 D64 J71 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 9 pages
Date: 2018-02
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-exp
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Published - published in: Applied Economics Letters, 2018, 25 (21), 1527-1530

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Journal Article: The Misaddressed Letter Experiment (2018)
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