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Motives for Giving: A Reanalysis of Two Classic Public Goods Experiments
Author(s) -
Ashley Richard,
Ball Sheryl,
Eckel Catherine
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
southern economic journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.762
H-Index - 58
eISSN - 2325-8012
pISSN - 0038-4038
DOI - 10.4284/sej.2010.77.1.15
Subject(s) - public good , altruism (biology) , reciprocity (cultural anthropology) , inequity aversion , economics , public goods game , positive economics , microeconomics , matching (statistics) , inequality , strong reciprocity , social psychology , mathematical economics , psychology , game theory , mathematics , repeated game , statistics , mathematical analysis
Experimental work in economics prompted the development of theories of other‐regarding behavior. In this article we reanalyze two classic public goods experiments and focus on the nature of individuals' responses to others' behavior in order to help distinguish alternative motives for giving, including altruism, warm glow, reciprocity, and inequality aversion. Analysis that allows for asymmetric feedback responses generates support for inequality aversion motives but little for reciprocity (matching), altruism, and warm glow. We conclude that individual‐level analysis of existing public goods data can provide more insightful, informative estimates of treatment effects.