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Blood donations and incentives: Evidence from a field experiment

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  • Goette, Lorenz
  • Stutzer, Alois

Abstract

There is a longstanding concern that material rewards might undermine pro-social motivations, thereby leading to a decrease in blood donations. This paper provides an empirical test of how material rewards affect blood donations in a three-month large-scale field experiment and a fifteen-month follow-up period, involving more than 10,000 previous donors. We examine the efficacy of a lottery ticket as a reward vis-à-vis a standard invitation, an appeal, and a free cholesterol test. The offer of a lottery ticket, on average, increases the probability to donate blood during the experiment by 5.6 percentage points over a baseline donation rate of 46%. We find that this effect is driven by less motivated donors. Moreover, no reduction in donations is observed after the experiment.

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  • Goette, Lorenz & Stutzer, Alois, 2020. "Blood donations and incentives: Evidence from a field experiment," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 170(C), pages 52-74.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:170:y:2020:i:c:p:52-74
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2019.11.021
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Blood donations; Field experiment; Material rewards; Motivation crowding effect; Pro-social behavior;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C93 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Field Experiments
    • D64 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Altruism; Philanthropy; Intergenerational Transfers
    • H41 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Public Goods
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health

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