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Some causes are more equal than others? The effect of similarity on substitution in charitable giving

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  • Ek, Claes

Abstract

Donation matching and other directed interventions to encourage prosocial contributions may affect contributions through other channels. In an experimental dictator game where subjects may donate to two different real-world charities, we simulate activity-specific interventions by varying the relative productivity of those charities, and introduce several treatments to test whether (i) subjects substitute across charities, and (ii) whether substitution occurs even across (possibly very) dissimilar alternatives. We find that significant substitution occurs in all cases, but that the effect is weaker the more dissimilar the charity alternatives. In our most dissimilar treatment, substitution is only half as large as when alternatives are very similar.

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  • Ek, Claes, 2017. "Some causes are more equal than others? The effect of similarity on substitution in charitable giving," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 45-62.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:136:y:2017:i:c:p:45-62
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2017.01.007
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    Cited by:

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    3. Jake An & Donnel Briley & Shai Danziger & Shai Levi, 2023. "The Impact of Social Investing on Charitable Donations," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 69(2), pages 1264-1274, February.
    4. Tatyana Deryugina & Benjamin M. Marx, 2021. "Is the Supply of Charitable Donations Fixed? Evidence from Deadly Tornadoes," American Economic Review: Insights, American Economic Association, vol. 3(3), pages 383-398, September.
    5. Koch, Alexander K. & Monster, Dan & Nafziger, Julia, 2023. "Nudging in Complex Environments," IZA Discussion Papers 16137, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Duquette, Nicolas J., 2019. "Do share-of-income limits on tax-deductibility of charitable contributions affect giving?," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 174(C), pages 1-4.
    7. Mayo, Jennifer, 2021. "How do big gifts affect rival charities and their donors?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 191(C), pages 575-597.
    8. Eckel, Catherine & Guney, Begum & Uler, Neslihan, 2020. "Independent vs. Coordinated Fundraising: Understanding the Role of Information," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    9. Méon, Pierre-Guillaume & Verwimp, Philip, 2022. "Pro-social behavior after a disaster: Evidence from a storm hitting an open-air festival," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 198(C), pages 493-510.
    10. Livingston, Jeffrey A. & Rasulmukhamedov, Rustam, 2023. "On the Interpretation of Giving in Dictator Games When the Recipient is a Charity," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 208(C), pages 275-285.
    11. Chandrayee Chatterjee & James C. Cox & Michael K. Price & Florian Rundhammer, 2020. "Robbing Peter to Pay Paul: Understanding How State Tax Credits Impact Charitable Giving," NBER Working Papers 27163, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Fanghella, Valeria & Thøgersen, John, 2022. "Experimental evidence of moral cleansing in the interpersonal and environmental domains," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    13. Ek, Claes, 2018. "Prosocial behavior and policy spillovers: A multi-activity approach," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 356-371.
    14. Jan Schmitz, 2021. "Is Charitable Giving a Zero-Sum Game? The Effect of Competition Between Charities on Giving Behavior," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(10), pages 6333-6349, October.
    15. Francisco Candel‐Sánchez & Juan Perote‐Peña, 2020. "Optimal Incentives on Multiple Prosocial Activities when Reputation Matters," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 122(3), pages 1207-1230, July.
    16. Schwirplies, Claudia, 2023. "Does additional demand for charitable aid increase giving? Evidence from Hurricane Sandy," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 209(C), pages 53-73.
    17. Ek, Claes & Miliute-Plepiene, Jurate, 2018. "Behavioral spillovers from food-waste collection in Swedish municipalities," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 168-186.
    18. Yan, Jinming & Yang, Yumeng & Xia, Fangzhou, 2021. "Subjective land ownership and the endowment effect in land markets: A case study of the farmland “three rights separation” reform in China," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    19. Chandrayee Chatterjee & James C. Cox & Michael K. Price & Florian Rundhammer, 2020. "Competition Among Charities: Field Experimental Evidence from a State Income Tax Credit for Charitable Giving," Experimental Economics Center Working Paper Series 2020-01, Experimental Economics Center, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University.
    20. Feldhaus, Christoph & Gleue, Marvin & Löschel, Andreas & Werner, Peter, 2022. "Co-benefits motivate individual donations to mitigate climate change," Research Memorandum 004, Maastricht University, Graduate School of Business and Economics (GSBE).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    C91; D03; H41; Charitable giving; Dictator game; Public goods; Prosocial behavior;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C91 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Individual Behavior
    • D03 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Behavioral Microeconomics: Underlying Principles
    • H41 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Public Goods

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