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Altruism and charitable giving in a fully replicated economy

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  • Thomas Gaube

    (Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods, Bonn, Germany)

Abstract

In this paper, an economy is analyzed where one group of agents, the altruists, cares about the well-being of another group of agents, the recipients. It is asked how changes in the size of these groups affect the altruists’ charitable giving in the Nash equilibrium. I show that a pure group size effect, i.e., a proportional expansion of both subgroups can lead to less free riding and to a lower degree of underprovision relative to the efficient level of charitable giving.

Suggested Citation

  • Thomas Gaube, 2005. "Altruism and charitable giving in a fully replicated economy," Discussion Paper Series of the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods 2005_8, Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods.
    • Handle: RePEc:mpg:wpaper:2005_08
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    altruism; public goods; group size; charitable giving;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D64 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Altruism; Philanthropy; Intergenerational Transfers
    • H41 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Public Goods

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