Mellström, Carl () (Department of Economics, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University) Johannesson, Magnus () (Department of Economics, Stockholm School of Economics)
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In his seminal 1970 book, The Gift Relationship, Richard Titmuss argued that monetary compensation for donating blood might crowd out the supply of blood donors. To test this claim we carry out a field experiment with three different treatments. In the first treatment subjects are given the opportunity to become blood donors without any compensation. In the second treatment subjects receive a payment of SEK 50 (approx. $7) for becoming blood donors, and in the third treatment subjects can choose between a SEK 50 payment and donating SEK 50 to charity. The results differ markedly between men and women. For men the supply of blood donors is not significantly different among the three experimental groups. For women there is a significant crowding out effect. The supply of blood donors decreases by almost half when a monetary payment is introduced. There is also a significant effect of allowing individuals to donate the payment to charity, and this effect fully counteracts the crowding out effect.
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Paper provided by Göteborg University, Department of Economics in its series Working Papers in Economics with number
180.
Length: 35 pages Date of creation: 06 Oct 2005 Date of revision:
08 Feb 2008 Publication status: Forthcoming in Journal of the European Economic Association , 2008, pages xx-xx. Handle: RePEc:hhs:gunwpe:0180
Contact details of provider: Postal: Department of Economics, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University Box 640, SE 405 30 GÖTEBORG, Sweden Phone: 031-773 10 00 Web page: http://www.handels.gu.se/econ/ More information through EDIRC
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Find related papers by JEL classification: C93 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Field Experiments D64 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Altruism I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Social Norms and Social Capital; Social Networks Economic Anthropology
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References listed on IDEAS Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
Roland Bénabou & Jean Tirole, 2004.
"Incentives and Prosocial Behavior,"
Working Papers
137, Princeton University, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Discussion Papers in Economics..
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Cited by: (explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)
Linardi, Sera & McConnell, Margaret A., 2008.
"Volunteering and image concerns,"
Working Papers
1282, California Institute of Technology, Division of the Humanities and Social Sciences.
[Downloadable!]