Work

Dark Defaults: How Choice Architecture Steers Campaign Donations

Year: 2022

Type: article

Abstract: In the months before the 2020 U.S. election, several political campaign websites added prechecked boxes (defaults), automatically making all donations into recurring weekly contributions unless donors unchecked them. Since these changes occurred at different times for different campaigns, we use a staggered difference-in-differences design to measure the causal effects of defaults on donors' behavior. We estimate that defaults increased campaign donations by over $43 million while increasing requested refunds by almost $3 million. The weekly default only impacted weekly recurring donations, and not other donations, suggesting that donors may not have intended to make weekly donations. The longer defaults were displayed, the more money campaigns raised through weekly donations. Donors did not compensate by changing the amount they donated. We found that the default had a larger impact on smaller donors and on donors who had no prior experience with defaults, causing them to start more chains and donate a larger proportion of their money through weekly recurring donations.

Source: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2218385120

Authors: Nathaniel Posner, Andrey Simonov, Kellen Mrkva, Eric J. Johnson

Institutions: Columbia University, Centre for Economic Policy Research, Baylor University

Language: English

Topic: Decision-Making and Behavioral Economics

Subfield: General Decision Sciences

Field: Decision Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Peace, justice, and strong institutions

Open Access status: hybrid

Funder: Alfred P. Sloan Foundation