Altruism or Exchange? Experimental Evidence on the Motives behind Private Transfers in Sri Lanka

Takeshi Aida and Yasuyuki Sawada

No 132, Working Papers from JICA Research Institute

Abstract: This study develops a new approach to the classical question of whether private transfers are motivated by altruism or exchange. We combine artefactual field experiments and standard household survey data, to directly measure the degree of altruism and trust (i.e., exchange) and to analyze their impact on the co-movement of consumption between dyadic pairs of respondents. We find that higher altruism toward lower income partners and their income differentials reduces observed differences in consumption, which supports the altruism hypothesis as a motive for private transfers.

Keywords: Private transfer; altruism; exchange; artefactual field experiment; dyadic data (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016-07
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-exp
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:jic:wpaper:132

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