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Social and Moral Motivations for Generosity

Paper Session

Friday, Jan. 3, 2025 2:30 PM - 4:30 PM (PST)

San Francisco Marriott Marquis, Foothill B
Hosted By: Association for the Study of Generosity in Economics
  • Chair: Laura K. Gee, Tufts University

Moral Framing and Contribution to Public Goods

Margaret A. McConnell
,
Harvard University
Stephanie Wang
,
University of Pittsburgh
Beatriz Ahumada
,
University of Pittsburgh

Abstract

"We provide experimental evidence consistent with morally motivated charitable giving.
We find that providing participants with a suggested contribution amount increases the
willingness to give and that framing the suggestion with moral language further increases
contributions. However, moral framing language does not affect the share of
individuals who make no contributions, suggesting that individuals may value contributions
above a moral reference point differently from contributions below it."

Pay It Forward: Theory and Experiment

Amanda Chuan
,
Michigan State University
Hanzhe Zhang
,
Michigan State University

Abstract

We theoretically and experimentally investigate psychological motivations behind pay-it-forward behavior. We construct a psychological game-theoretic model that incorporates altruism, inequity aversion, and indirect reciprocity following Rabin (1993), Fehr and Schmidt (1999), and Dufwenberg and Kirchsteiger (2004). We test this model using games in which players choose to give to strangers, potentially after receiving a gift from an unrelated benefactor. Our experiment reveals that altruism and indirect reciprocity spur people to pay kind actions forward, informing how kindness begets further kindness. However, inequity aversion hinders giving even when giving will allow one’s kindness to be paid forward. Our paper informs how kind behaviors get passed on among parties that never directly interact, which has implications for the formation of social norms and behavioral conduct within workplaces, neighborhoods, and communities.

Working for Others - or Not: An Experimental Analysis of Effort Provision in Redistributive Systems

William Hickman
,
George Mason University
Johanna Mollerstrom
,
George Mason University

Abstract

We investigate how effort provision changes when a portion of labor earnings is withheld and redistributed to others. Across three online experiments with 1,600 participants, we find that people work less when taxed or when earnings are redirected to benefit various organizations, even when personal earnings are held constant, reflecting a general aversion to working for others. This response persists, though weakens slightly, even when participants favor the beneficiaries. Allowing participants to choose the recipient does little to reduce this aversion, but giving them the option to work solely for themselves or for a chosen beneficiary mitigates the negative effect. Our findings emphasize the importance of autonomy and social motivations in labor decisions and suggest that decreasing the salience of taxes and enhancing taxpayer autonomy may help increase the efficiency of redistributive systems.

Only in My Backyard: The Effect of Flood Exposure on Environmental Behavior

Derrick Xu
,
University of Bristol

Abstract

How directly do people need to experience climate change to change their actions? I analyse a decade of real-world donation records from 90,000 donors in England and data from longitudinal surveys. By observing the precise locations of these individuals, I show that, after being directly affected by floods, people are more likely to view their environmental efforts as insufficient and to increase their support for environmental charities and the Green Party. However, this effect does not occur when floods only affect their neighbours, even those living within 200 metres. The results suggest an “only in my backyard” phenomenon, where people act only when personally affected by climate consequences. Further analysis reveals that individuals with strong universalist values do respond to neighbouring floods, indicating that the broader lack of responses stems primarily from those less concerned with global issues like climate change.

Discussant(s)
Andreas Lange
,
University of Hamburg
Daniel Hungerman
,
University of Notre Dame
Michael Norton
,
Harvard University
Kristine Koutout
,
Stanford University
JEL Classifications
  • H4 - Publicly Provided Goods
  • D9 - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics