IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/aea/jecper/v34y2020i2p215-36.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Economics of Tipping

Author

Listed:
  • Ofer H. Azar

Abstract

Tipping involves dozens of billions of dollars annually in the US alone and is a major income source for millions of workers. But beyond its economic importance and various economic implications, tipping is also a unique economic phenomenon in that people pay tips voluntarily without any legal obligation. Tipping demonstrates that psychological and social motivations can be a substantial reason for economic behavior, and that economic models should go beyond a selfish economic agent who has no feelings in order to capture the full range of economic activities. This article discusses some aspects of tipping, with an emphasis on economic issues: the history of tipping, the main reasons for tipping, why tipping could be a welfare-increasing and sustainable social norm, the relationship between tipping and service quality, how tipping represents a struggle over rents, and issues of discrimination and sexual harassment related to tipping.

Suggested Citation

  • Ofer H. Azar, 2020. "The Economics of Tipping," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 34(2), pages 215-236, Spring.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:jecper:v:34:y:2020:i:2:p:215-36
    DOI: 10.1257/jep.34.2.215
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.aeaweb.org/doi/10.1257/jep.34.2.215
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.aeaweb.org/doi/10.1257/jep.34.2.215.ds
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1257/jep.34.2.215?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ofer Azar, 2009. "Incentives and service quality in the restaurant industry: the tipping-service puzzle," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(15), pages 1917-1927.
    2. Ofer Azar, 2005. "Who do we tip and why? An empirical investigation," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(16), pages 1871-1879.
    3. Azar, Ofer H., 2012. "The effect of the minimum wage for tipped workers on firm strategy, employees and social welfare," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(5), pages 748-755.
    4. Ofer H. Azar, 2003. "The Social Norm of Tipping: A Review," Others 0309006, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Ofer H. Azar, 2003. "The implications of tipping for economics and management," International Journal of Social Economics, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 30(10), pages 1084-1094, October.
    6. Azar, Ofer H., 2004. "The history of tipping--from sixteenth-century England to United States in the 1910s," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 33(6), pages 745-764, December.
    7. Azar, Ofer H., 2007. "Why pay extra? Tipping and the importance of social norms and feelings in economic theory," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 250-265, April.
    8. Lynn, Michael, 2018. "How motivations for tipping vary with occupational differences in descriptive tipping norms," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 1-10.
    9. Azar, Ofer H., 2009. "Tipping motivations and behavior in the US and Israel," MPRA Paper 20304, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Ofer H. Azar, 2007. "Do people tip strategically, to improve future service? Theory and evidence," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 40(2), pages 515-527, May.
    11. Ofer Azar, 2005. "The Social Norm of Tipping: Does it Improve Social Welfare?," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 85(2), pages 141-173, August.
    12. Lynn, Michael, 2016. "Why are we more likely to tip some service occupations than others? Theory, evidence, and implications," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 134-150.
    13. Azar, Ofer H., 2004. "What sustains social norms and how they evolve?: The case of tipping," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 54(1), pages 49-64, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Bíró, Anikó & Prinz, Dániel & Sándor, László, 2022. "The minimum wage, informal pay, and tax enforcement," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 215(C).
    2. Lynn, Michael, 2021. "The effects of injunctive and descriptive tipping norms on tipping behavior and motives," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    3. Kakkar, Vikas & Li, King King, 2022. "Cash or card? Impression management and restaurant tipping behavior," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    4. Conlisk, Sarah, 2021. "Tipping in Crises: Evidence from Chicago Taxi Passengers during COVID-19," OSF Preprints brvhp, Center for Open Science.
    5. Conlisk, Sarah, 2022. "Tipping in crises: Evidence from Chicago taxi passengers during COVID-19," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    6. Wei Zhao & Qianqian Ben Liu & Xitong Guo & Tianshi Wu & Subodha Kumar, 2022. "Quid pro quo in online medical consultation? Investigating the effects of small monetary gifts from patients," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 31(4), pages 1698-1718, April.
    7. Lynn, Michael, 2021. "The effects of occupational characteristics on the motives underlying tipping of different occupations," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    8. Berry, Christopher & Douglas Hoffman, K., 2023. "Communicating intent: Effects of employer-controlled tipping strategy disclosures on tip amount and firm evaluations," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ofer H. Azar & Yossi Tobol, 2008. "Tipping as a Strategic Investment in Service Quality: An Optimal‐Control Analysis of Repeated Interactions in the Service Industry," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 75(1), pages 246-260, July.
    2. Azar, Ofer H., 2006. "Tipping, firm strategy, and industrial organization," MPRA Paper 4485, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Azar, Ofer H., 2011. "Business strategy and the social norm of tipping," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 515-525, June.
    4. Ofer Azar, 2009. "Incentives and service quality in the restaurant industry: the tipping-service puzzle," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(15), pages 1917-1927.
    5. Ofer H. Azar, 2007. "Do people tip strategically, to improve future service? Theory and evidence," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 40(2), pages 515-527, May.
    6. Azar, Ofer H., 2009. "Tipping motivations and behavior in the US and Israel," MPRA Paper 20304, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Lynn, Michael, 2015. "Service gratuities and tipping: A motivational framework," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 74-88.
    8. Holland, Steven J., 2009. "Tipping as risk sharing," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 38(4), pages 641-647, August.
    9. Hoover, Hanna, 2022. "Nudges as norms: Evidence from the NYC taxi cab industry," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    10. Saunders, Stephen G. & Lynn, Michael, 2010. "Why tip? An empirical test of motivations for tipping car guards," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 106-113, February.
    11. Agnès Festré, 2010. "Incentives And Social Norms: A Motivation‐Based Economic Analysis Of Social Norms," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(3), pages 511-538, July.
    12. Chih, Yao-Yu, 2016. "Social network structure and government provision crowding-out on voluntary contributions," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 83-90.
    13. Ofer Azar, 2005. "The Social Norm of Tipping: Does it Improve Social Welfare?," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 85(2), pages 141-173, August.
    14. Lynn, Michael & Jabbour, Patrick & Kim, Woo Gon, 2012. "Who uses tips as a reward for service and when? An examination of potential moderators of the service–tipping relationship," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 90-103.
    15. Azar, Ofer H., 2007. "Why pay extra? Tipping and the importance of social norms and feelings in economic theory," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 250-265, April.
    16. Amir B. Ferreira Neto & Adam Nowak & Amanda Ross, 2017. "Do tourists tip more than local consumers? Evidence of taxi rides in New York City," Working Papers 17-14, Department of Economics, West Virginia University.
    17. Azar, Ofer H., 2012. "The effect of the minimum wage for tipped workers on firm strategy, employees and social welfare," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(5), pages 748-755.
    18. repec:ebl:ecbull:v:4:y:2006:i:33:p:1-7 is not listed on IDEAS
    19. Lynn, Michael, 2016. "Why are we more likely to tip some service occupations than others? Theory, evidence, and implications," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 134-150.
    20. Riccardo Pedersini & Rosemarie Nagel & Marc Le Menestrel, 2019. "The Power of Requests in a Redistribution Game: An Experimental Study," Games, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-18, July.
    21. Osman Ahmed El-Said & Hossam Said Shehata, 2017. "Tipping Motives in Egyptian Restaurants: Customers’ View," Tourism Research Institute, Journal of Tourism Research, vol. 16(1), pages 176-198, June.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • J71 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Discrimination - - - Hiring and Firing
    • L83 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Sports; Gambling; Restaurants; Recreation; Tourism
    • Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:aea:jecper:v:34:y:2020:i:2:p:215-36. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Michael P. Albert (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/aeaaaea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.