Dire Straits v The Cure: Emphasising the Problem or the Solution in Charitable Fundraising for International Development

Jeremy Clark, Arlene Garces-Ozanne and Stephen Knowles ()

No 1608, Working Papers from University of Otago, Department of Economics

Abstract: We conduct a laboratory experiment to test the effect on charitable donations to international development NGOs (INGOs) of emphasising current deprivation in a developing country, versus emphasising the potential good a donation can achieve. Using a double-blind dictator experiment with earned endowments, we find that varying the information/emphasis has no significant effect on total donations, or on the probability of donating. An emphasis on current deprivation does, however, significantly raise the variance of donations, so that conditional on donating, it significantly raises donations compared to emphasising potential gains from the charity’s work.

Keywords: charitable giving; dictator game; message strategy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C91 D64 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 32 pages
Date: 2016-10, Revised 2016-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-exp
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http://www.otago.ac.nz/economics/otago623533.pdf First version, 2016 (application/pdf)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:otg:wpaper:1608

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