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Are nurses more altruistic than real estate brokers?

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Author Info

  • Jacobsen, Karin

    () (Dept. of Economics, University of Oslo)

  • H. Eika, Kari

    (The Royal Ministry of Health and Care Services)

  • Helland, Leif

    (Department of Economics, BI Norwegian School of Management)

  • Thori Lind, Jo

    () (Dept. of Economics, University of Oslo)

  • Nyborg, Karine

    () (Dept. of Economics, University of Oslo)

Abstract

We report results from a dictator game experiment with nurse students and real estate broker students as dictators, and Amnesty International as the recipient. Although brokers contributed substantial amounts, nurses contributed significantly more, on average 76 percent of their endowment. In a second part, subjects chose between a certain repetition of the experiment and a 50-50 chance of costly exit. About one third of the brokers and half of the nurses chose the exit option. While generosity was indeed higher among nurses, even when taking exits into account, the difference cannot readily be attributed to different degrees of altruism.

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File URL: http://www.sv.uio.no/econ/english/research/memorandum/pdf-files/2011/Memo-09-2011.pdf
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Bibliographic Info

Paper provided by Oslo University, Department of Economics in its series Memorandum with number 09/2011.

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Length: 25 pages
Date of creation: 28 Apr 2011
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:hhs:osloec:2011_009

Contact details of provider:
Postal: Department of Economics, University of Oslo, P.O Box 1095 Blindern, N-0317 Oslo, Norway
Phone: 22 85 51 27
Fax: 22 85 50 35
Email:
Web page: http://www.oekonomi.uio.no/indexe.html
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Related research

Keywords: Dictator game; exit option; generosity; occupational differences;

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References

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Citations

Blog mentions

As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
  1. Are nurses more altruistic than real estate brokers?
    by Nicholas Gruen in Club Troppo on 2011-05-09 10:16:01
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Cited by:
  1. Dur, Robert & Zoutenbier, Robin, 2012. "Working for a Good Cause," IZA Discussion Papers 7058, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
  2. Robert Dur & Robin Zoutenbier, 2011. "Working for a Good Cause," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 11-168/1, Tinbergen Institute, revised 23 Apr 2013.
  3. Tonin, Mirco & Vlassopoulos, Michael, 2012. "Experimental Evidence of Self-Image Concerns as Motivation for Giving," IZA Discussion Papers 6388, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).

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