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Directed giving enhances voluntary giving to government

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  • Li, Sherry Xin
  • Eckel, Catherine
  • Grossman, Philip J.
  • Brown, Tara Larson

Abstract

Giving to private charities is commonplace, and the chance to direct one’s gift is a standard fundraising strategy. But voluntary donations to government organizations are less widely known, and the impact of the opportunity to direct a gift is unexplored. We investigate the effect of directed giving on voluntary contributions to government organizations using a “real donation” lab experiment. We compare giving to the US federal general revenue fund with directed giving to particular government organizations. Directed giving more than doubles both the likelihood of giving and the size of contributions, indicating that individuals are responsive to the opportunity to direct their gifts in the government context. Our results suggest that the revenue-raising potential of directed voluntary gifts to government may be underutilized.

Suggested Citation

  • Li, Sherry Xin & Eckel, Catherine & Grossman, Philip J. & Brown, Tara Larson, 2015. "Directed giving enhances voluntary giving to government," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 51-54.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:133:y:2015:i:c:p:51-54
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2015.05.008
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Li, Sherry Xin & Eckel, Catherine C. & Grossman, Philip J. & Brown, Tara Larson, 2011. "Giving to government: Voluntary taxation in the lab," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(9-10), pages 1190-1201, October.
    2. Botelho, Anabela & Harrison, Glenn W. & Pinto, Lígia M. Costa & Rutström, Elisabet E., 2009. "Testing static game theory with dynamic experiments: A case study of public goods," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 67(1), pages 253-265.3, September.
    3. Ben Greiner, 2004. "The Online Recruitment System ORSEE 2.0 - A Guide for the Organization of Experiments in Economics," Working Paper Series in Economics 10, University of Cologne, Department of Economics.
    4. Ben Greiner, 2004. "The Online Recruitment System ORSEE - A Guide for the Organization of Experiments in Economics," Papers on Strategic Interaction 2003-10, Max Planck Institute of Economics, Strategic Interaction Group.
    5. Alm, James & Jackson, Betty R. & McKee, Michael, 1993. "Fiscal exchange, collective decision institutions, and tax compliance," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 22(3), pages 285-303, December.
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. R. Andrew Luccasen & M. Kathleen Thomas, 2020. "Voluntary taxation and the arts," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 44(4), pages 589-604, December.
    2. Catherine C. Eckel & Benjamin A. Priday & Rick K. Wilson, 2018. "Charity Begins at Home: A Lab-in-the-Field Experiment on Charitable Giving," Games, MDPI, vol. 9(4), pages 1-22, November.
    3. Ernan Haruvy & Peter Popkowski Leszczyc & Greg Allenby & Russell Belk & Catherine Eckel & Robert Fisher & Sherry Xin Li & John A. List & Yu Ma & Yu Wang, 2020. "Fundraising design: key issues, unifying framework, and open puzzles," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 31(4), pages 371-380, December.
    4. Raúl López-Pérez & Aldo Ramírez-Almudio, 2020. "Why people give to their governments: The role of outcome-oriented norms," Working Papers 2007, Instituto de Políticas y Bienes Públicos (IPP), CSIC.
    5. Exley, Christine L. & Petrie, Ragan, 2018. "The impact of a surprise donation ask," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 158(C), pages 152-167.
    6. Christine L. Exley, 2020. "Using Charity Performance Metrics as an Excuse Not to Give," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 66(2), pages 553-563, February.
    7. McCannon, Bryan C. & Ferreira Neto, Amir B., 2021. "Charitable giving for cultural goods: Asymmetric gender responses to votes on tax increases," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 204(C).
    8. Joel Slemrod & Yulia Kuchumova, 2023. "Gifts to government," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 30(2), pages 453-492, April.
    9. Judd B. Kessler & Katherine L. Milkman & C. Yiwei Zhang, 2019. "Getting the Rich and Powerful to Give," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 65(9), pages 4049-4062, September.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Directed giving; Voluntary giving to government; Experiment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H2 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue
    • D64 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Altruism; Philanthropy; Intergenerational Transfers
    • C9 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments

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