Work

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

Year: 2020

Type: article

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.

Source: Experimental Economics

DOI: 10.1007/s10683-020-09661-z

Authors: Michalis Drouvelis, Benjamin M. Marx

Institutions: University of Birmingham, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, University of Illinois System

Language: English

Topic: Experimental Behavioral Economics Studies

Subfield: Safety Research

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: green

OpenAlex ID: W2921111019

FWCI: 5.111

Cites: 95

Cited by: 29

Related to: 10