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Defaults in charitable giving

Author

Listed:
  • Jonathan Schulz

    (Department of Economics, University of Nottingham.)

  • Petra Thiemann

    (University of Southern California.)

  • Christian Thoeni

    (University of Lausanne.)

Abstract

In an experimental setup we investigate the effect of defaults on charitable giving. In the treatment group, subjects can either specify a charity of their choice, or select one from a default list of five well-known charities; in the control group we do not provide the list. In a sample of 869 subjects we find that offering a list of default charities doubles both the fraction of donors and the aggregate amount of donations. These findings point to the importance of psychological factors like affective reactions in donation decisions.

Suggested Citation

  • Jonathan Schulz & Petra Thiemann & Christian Thoeni, 2015. "Defaults in charitable giving," Discussion Papers 2015-06, The Centre for Decision Research and Experimental Economics, School of Economics, University of Nottingham.
    • Handle: RePEc:not:notcdx:2015-06
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    File URL: https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/cedex/documents/papers/cedex-discussion-paper-2015-06.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    7. Steffen Altmann & Armin Falk & Paul Heidhues & Rajshri Jayaraman & Marrit Teirlinck, 2019. "Defaults and Donations: Evidence from a Field Experiment," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 101(5), pages 808-826, December.
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    Cited by:

    1. Schulz, Jonathan F. & Thiemann, Petra & Thöni, Christian, 2018. "Nudging generosity: Choice architecture and cognitive factors in charitable giving," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 139-145.

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    Keywords

    charitable giving; defaults; donation; affective reactions;
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