Toward an understanding of the economics of charity
Subtitle: evidence from a field experiment
By: Craig Landry ... [et al.].
Contributors: Landry, Craig.; National Bureau of Economic Research.
Series: NBER working paper series ;; working paper 11611; Working paper series (National Bureau of Economic Research : Online) ;; working paper no. 11611.
Publisher: National Bureau of Economic Research
Published: 2005
Place of publication: Cambridge, MA
Language: eng
Format: Electronic resource
Subjects: Charity -- Economic aspects -- United States.; Fund raising -- United States.; Lotteries -- Economic aspects -- United States.
Description: "This study develops theory and uses a door-to-door fundraising field experiment to explore the economics of charity.  We approached nearly 5000 households, randomly divided into four experimental treatments, to shed light on key issues on the demand side of charitable fundraising.  Empirical results are in line with our theory: in gross terms, our lottery treatments raised considerably more money than our voluntary contributions treatments.  Interestingly, we find that a one standard deviation increase in female solicitor physical attractiveness is similar to that of the lottery incentive, the magnitude of the estimated difference in gifts is roughly equivalent to the treatment effect of moving from our theoretically most attractive approach (lotteries) to our least attractive approach (voluntary contributions)"--National Bureau of Economic Research web site.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references.
Title from PDF file as viewed on 9/15/2005.
Also available in print.
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Mode of access: World Wide Web.