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Charitable giving by the poor: A field experiment on matching and distance to charitable output in Kyrgyzstan

Author

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  • Adena, Maja
  • Hakimov, Rustamdjan
  • Huck, Steffen

Abstract

Previous studies of charitable giving have focused on middle or higher income earners in Western countries, neglecting the poor. Despite this focus, the lowest income groups are often shown to contribute substantial shares of their income to charitable causes. In a large-scale natural field experiment with over 180,000 cli-ents of a micro-lending company in Kyrgyzstan, we study charitable giving by a population that is much poorer relative to the typical donors that have been stud-ied so far. In a 2x2 design, we explore two main hypotheses about giving by the poor: (i) that they are more price sensitive and (ii) that they care about their prox-imity to the charitable project. We find evidence in favor of the former hypothesis but not of the latter.

Suggested Citation

  • Adena, Maja & Hakimov, Rustamdjan & Huck, Steffen, 2019. "Charitable giving by the poor: A field experiment on matching and distance to charitable output in Kyrgyzstan," Discussion Papers, Research Unit: Economics of Change SP II 2019-305, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:wzbeoc:spii2019305
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    Cited by:

    1. Blanco, M & Dalton, P. S., 2019. "Generosity and Wealth: Experimental Evidence from Bogotá Stratification," Documentos de Trabajo 17598, Universidad del Rosario.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Charitable giving; field experiments; matching donations;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C93 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Field Experiments
    • D64 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Altruism; Philanthropy; Intergenerational Transfers
    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis

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