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Deconstructing Giving: Donor Types and How They Give

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  • Lata Gangadharan
  • Philip J. Grossman
  • Kristy Jones

Abstract

We examine the extent to which individual donors are warm glow or altruistic givers and whether this distinction motivates giving decisions, particularly paternalism. Results from our experiment suggest that motivations for giving are heterogeneous, ranging from pure altruism to impure altruism to pure warm glow. Of 115 donors, in our setting 30 are purely altruistic givers, 36 are impure givers and up to 17 could be considered pure warm-glow givers. We find that donors are predominantly paternalistic, however the extent of paternalism depends on the donor’s motivations for giving, with pure warm-glow givers significantly less likely to be paternalistic.

Suggested Citation

  • Lata Gangadharan & Philip J. Grossman & Kristy Jones, 2014. "Deconstructing Giving: Donor Types and How They Give," Monash Economics Working Papers 53-14, Monash University, Department of Economics.
  • Handle: RePEc:mos:moswps:2014-53
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Warm Glow; Altruism; Paternalism; Deconstructing giving;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C91 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Individual Behavior
    • D64 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Altruism; Philanthropy; Intergenerational Transfers
    • H40 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - General

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