BRAÑAS GARZA, PABLO ERNESTO, JORRAT, DIEGO ANDRÉS, Kovárík, Jaromír , LÓPEZ MARTÍN, MARÍA DEL CARMEN
No
PLoS ONE
Article
Científica
3.752
0.852
25/08/2021
000729171700055
2-s2.0-85113734317
Using an incentivized experiment with statistical power, this paper explores the role of stakes in charitable giving of lottery prizes, where subjects commit to donate a fraction of the prize before they learn the outcome of the lottery. We study three stake levels: 5€ (n = 177), 100€ (n = 168), and 1,000€ (n = 171). Although the donations increase in absolute terms as the stakes increase, subjects decrease the donated fraction of the pie. However, people still share roughly 20% of 1,000€, an amount as high as the average monthly salary of people at the age of our subjects. The number of people sharing 50% of the pie is remarkably stable across stakes, but donating the the whole pie-the modal behavior in charity-donation experiments-disappears with stakes. Such hyper-altruistic behavior thus seems to be an artifact of the stakes typically employed in economic and psychological experiments. Our findings point out that sharing with others is a prevalent human feature, but stakes are an important determinant of sharing. Policies promoted via prosocial frames (e.g., stressing the effects of mask-wearing or social distancing on others during the Covid-19 pandemic or environmentally-friendly behaviors on future generations) may thus be miscalibrated if they disregard the stakes at play.
altruism; female; gift giving; human; male; psychology; student; young adult; Altruism; Female; Gift Giving; Humans; Male; Students; Young Adult