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Economics, Gratitude, and Warm Glow

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  • J. Atsu Amegashie

    (Department of Economics, University of Guelph)

Abstract

People feel a sense of gratitude when they receive gifts, transfers, or assistance. Based on psychological literature, I argue that gratitude is different from standard notions of reciprocity. Indeed, people derive utility from in-kind transfers (i.e., feel grateful), even if they do not like or do not consume the gift. This is because it is the thought that counts, so long as the donor made a genuine and sincere effort to make the recipient happy. I incorporate a sense of gratitude into preferences and use it to rationalize Andreoni (1989, 1990) warm-glow of giving. This addresses a critique of Andreoni’s model by Brekke, Kverndokk, and Nyborg (Journal of Public Economics, 2003). I am also able to explain the effect of social distance on the degree of redistribution, why government charitable donations may not crowd out private charitable contributions, the Keynesian effects of government debt, intrinsic motivation, donations to not-for-profit organizations and the practice of thanking anonymous referees in academia.

Suggested Citation

  • J. Atsu Amegashie, 2006. "Economics, Gratitude, and Warm Glow," Working Papers 0601, University of Guelph, Department of Economics and Finance.
    • Handle: RePEc:gue:guelph:2006-1
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Blog mentions

    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. HowTo: Altruism and the “Warm Glow” effect
      by zooeygoethe in Economic Objectorvism on 2007-12-27 00:01:33

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    Cited by:

    1. Garofalo, Giuseppe & Morganti, Patrizio, 2010. "Il finanziamento degli investimenti in R&S. Gli effetti sulla crescita e sulla struttura finanziaria," MPRA Paper 23551, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Michael Jones & Michael McKee, 2008. "Giving To Ingrates?," Working Papers 08-06, Department of Economics, Appalachian State University.
    3. J. Atsu Amegashie, 2006. "Intentions and Social Interactions," Working Papers 0602, University of Guelph, Department of Economics and Finance.
    4. De Vries, Eline L.E. & Duque, Lola C., 2018. "Small but Sincere: How Firm Size and Gratitude Determine the Effectiveness of Cause Marketing Campaigns," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 94(4), pages 352-363.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    altruism; charity; gratitude; psychology; warm-glow.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D11 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Theory
    • H41 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Public Goods

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