IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zur/iewwpx/070.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Subsidizing Charitable Giving in a Field Experiment

Author

Listed:
  • Thorsten Hens
  • Beate Pilgrim

Abstract

This paper tests the effect of a matching mechanism on donations in a controlled field experiment. We match the donations of students at the University of Zurich who, each semester, have to decide whether they wish to contribute to two Social Funds. Our results support the hypothesis that a matching mechanism increases contributions to a public good. However, the effect depends on the extent to which the contributions are matched. Whereas a 25 percent increase of a donation does not increase the willingness to contribute, a 50 percent increase does have an effect. In addition, people need to be socially inclined to react to the matching mechanism. The field experiment provides some evidence suggesting that the matching mechanism crowds-out the intrinsic motivation of giving.

Suggested Citation

  • Thorsten Hens & Beate Pilgrim, "undated". "Subsidizing Charitable Giving in a Field Experiment," IEW - Working Papers 070, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - University of Zurich.
  • Handle: RePEc:zur:iewwpx:070
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.zora.uzh.ch/id/eprint/51971/1/iewwp070.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Richard C. Barnett & Eric O'N. Fisher, 2002. "Comment on: "Do Sunspots Matter When Spot Market Equilibria Are Unique?"," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 70(1), pages 393-396, January.
    2. Forges, Francoise & Peck, James, 1995. "Correlated Equilibrium and Sunspot Equilibrium," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 5(1), pages 33-50, January.
    3. O. Galor & H. M. Polemarchakis, 1987. "Intertemporal Equilibrium and the Transfer Paradox," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 54(1), pages 147-156.
    4. Aumann, Robert J., 1974. "Subjectivity and correlation in randomized strategies," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 1(1), pages 67-96, March.
    5. Geanakoplos, John & Heal, Geoffrey, 1983. "A geometric explanation of the transfer paradox in a stable economy," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(1-2), pages 223-236.
    6. Jeanne, Olivier & Masson, Paul, 2000. "Currency crises, sunspots and Markov-switching regimes," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(2), pages 327-350, April.
    7. Jeanne, Olivier, 1997. "Are currency crises self-fulfilling?: A test," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(3-4), pages 263-286, November.
    8. Obstfeld, Maurice, 1996. "Models of currency crises with self-fulfilling features," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 40(3-5), pages 1037-1047, April.
    9. Lahiri, Sajal & Raimondos, Pascalis, 1995. "Welfare effects of aid under quantitative trade restrictions," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(3-4), pages 297-315, November.
    10. Maurice Obstfeld, 1994. "The Logic of Currency Crises," NBER Working Papers 4640, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Hens, Thorsten & Laitenberger, Jorg & Loffler, Andreas, 2002. "Two remarks on the uniqueness of equilibria in the CAPM," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 123-132, April.
    12. Debreu, Gerard, 1970. "Economies with a Finite Set of Equilibria," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 38(3), pages 387-392, May.
    13. Kehoe, Timothy J., 1991. "Computation and multiplicity of equilibria," Handbook of Mathematical Economics, in: W. Hildenbrand & H. Sonnenschein (ed.), Handbook of Mathematical Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 38, pages 2049-2144, Elsevier.
    14. Balasko, Yves, 1978. "The Transfer Problem and the Theory of Regular Economies," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 19(3), pages 687-694, October.
    15. Thorsten Hens, 2000. "Do Sunspots Matter when Spot Market Equilibria Are Unique?," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 68(2), pages 435-441, March.
    16. David Cass, 1989. "Sunspots and Incomplete Financial Markets: The Leading Example," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: George R. Feiwel (ed.), The Economics of Imperfect Competition and Employment, chapter 25, pages 677-693, Palgrave Macmillan.
    17. Piero Gottardi & Atsushi Kajii, 1999. "The Structure of Sunspot Equilibria: The Role of Multiplicity," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 66(3), pages 713-732.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Hens, Thorsten & Pilgrim, Beate, 2004. "Sunspot Equilibria and the Transfer Paradox," Discussion Papers 2004/14, Norwegian School of Economics, Department of Business and Management Science.
    2. Thorsten Hens & Beate Pilgrim, 2004. "Sunspot equilibria and the transfer paradox," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 24(3), pages 583-602, October.
    3. Hens, Thorsten & Mayer, Janós & Pilgrim, Beate, 2004. "Existence of Sunspot Equilibria and Uniqueness of Spot Market Equilibria: The Case of Intrinsically Complete Markets," Discussion Papers 2004/15, Norwegian School of Economics, Department of Business and Management Science.
    4. Thorsten Hens & Beate Pilgrim & Janos Mayer, "undated". "Existence of Sunspot Equilibria and Uniqueness of Spot Market Equilibria: The Case of Intrinsically Complete Markets," IEW - Working Papers 188, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - University of Zurich.
    5. Alessandro Prati & Massimo Sbracia, 2002. "Currency crises and uncertainty about fundamentals," Temi di discussione (Economic working papers) 446, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    6. Muhd-Zulkhibri Abdul Majid, 2004. "Sources Of Asian Currency Crisis," International Finance 0405020, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Tamgac, Unay, 2011. "Crisis and self-fulfilling expectations: The Turkish experience in 1994 and 2000-2001," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 20(1), pages 44-58, January.
    8. Arifovic, Jasmina & Jiang, Janet Hua, 2019. "Strategic uncertainty and the power of extrinsic signals– evidence from an experimental study of bank runs," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 167(C), pages 1-17.
    9. Marcel Fratzscher, 2003. "On currency crises and contagion," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 8(2), pages 109-129.
    10. Komulainen, Tuomas, 2001. "Currency crises in emerging markets : Capital flows and herding behaviour," BOFIT Discussion Papers 10/2001, Bank of Finland, Institute for Economies in Transition.
    11. Feltenstein, Andrew & Rochon, Céline, 2009. "Can good events lead to bad outcomes? Endogenous banking crises and fiscal policy responses," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(4), pages 396-409, September.
    12. Acharya, Sushant & Benhabib, Jess & Huo, Zhen, 2021. "The anatomy of sentiment-driven fluctuations," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 195(C).
    13. Rajan, Ramkishen S. & Sugema, Iman, 2000. "Government bailouts and monetary disequilibrium: common fundamentals in the Mexican and East Asian currency crises," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 11(2), pages 123-135, December.
    14. Femminis, Gianluca, 2007. "Currency Attacks With Multiple Equilibria And Imperfect Information: The Role Of Wage-Setters," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 11(1), pages 79-112, February.
    15. repec:hum:wpaper:sfb649dp2009-011 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Pablo Bustelo & Clara Garcia & Iliana Olivie, 1999. "Global and Domestic Factors of Financial Crises in Emerging Economies: Lessons from the East Asian Episodes (1997-1999)," Working Papers 002, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Instituto Complutense de Estudios Internacionales.
    17. Ari, Ali, 2008. "An Early Warning Signals Approach for Currency Crises: The Turkish Case," MPRA Paper 25858, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2009.
    18. Sylvester C. W. Eijffinger & Benedikt Goderis, 2007. "Currency Crises, Monetary Policy and Corporate Balance Sheets," German Economic Review, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 8(3), pages 309-343, August.
    19. Giancarlo Marini & Giovanni Piersanti, 2012. "Models of Speculative Attacks and Crashes in International Capital Markets," CEIS Research Paper 245, Tor Vergata University, CEIS, revised 24 Jul 2012.
    20. W D A Bryant, 2009. "General Equilibrium:Theory and Evidence," World Scientific Books, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., number 6875, September.
    21. repec:zbw:bofitp:2001_010 is not listed on IDEAS
    22. Marcello Pericoli & Massimo Sbracia, 2003. "A Primer on Financial Contagion," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 17(4), pages 571-608, September.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Public Goods; Field Experiment; Matching Mechanism; Donations;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C93 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Field Experiments
    • D64 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Altruism; Philanthropy; Intergenerational Transfers
    • H00 - Public Economics - - General - - - General

    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:zur:iewwpx:070. 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: Severin Oswald (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    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.