Both the probability of someone making charitable contributions and the size
of the gift are strongly related to their age, according to new research by
Professor John List, published in the January 2004 issue of the Economic
Journal.
List reports data from two distinct field experiments and one natural
experiment to test whether there is a link between age and social preferences
– how much people’s behaviour reflects concern for others.
A major result he reports is that subject age and social preferences are
correlated. For example, the average gift difference in a fund-raising
experiment between young and mature men is 588%. And the probability of
giving anything at all and the size of the gift both increase over time for men
much more than for women.
List’s data-gathering approaches are unique in that he:
a. recruits individuals on the floor of an actual marketplace, allowing
subjects of all age, income, and education levels to participate in the
experimental games;
b. solicits donors in a way that matches, as closely as possible, the
current state of the art in fund-raising; and
c. investigates data drawn from the game show Friend or Foe?, which is
remarkably similar to the classic prisoner’s dilemma tale.
A unique aspect of List’s work is that in all three cases he takes advantage of
the natural variation inherent in the field, which permits a test of the main
hypothesis of interest. Using the field as his laboratory allows him to examine
important questions that have heretofore been largely ignored due to data
shortcomings.
List’s results, which are consonant across all three experimental settings,
should have practical significance for economic theorists, empirical
researchers, fund-raisers, policy-makers, and the growing body of scientific
research that uses experimental methods. For example, the results should
influence views on normative and positive modelling approaches and
research methodologies (e.g., data analyses).
Fund-raisers and policy-makers should also find the results of interest for
several reasons – the ways in which charitable deduction rates, strategies to
optimise charitable contributions and intergenerational transfer rules are
formed may all be influenced by such findings.
Other major results List reports should raise the comfort level of lab
experimentalists: the level and temporal nature of the contributions List finds
are consistent with data reported in lab experiments. This is good news in that
the important laboratory results documented in the large literature of private
provision of public goods appear to be smoothly transferable to the general
public.
ENDS
Notes for Editors: ‘Young, Selfish and Male: Field Evidence of Social
Preferences’ by John List is published in the January 2004 issue of the
Economic Journal.
Professor List is at the University of Maryland (2200 Symons Hall, College
Park, MD 20742-5535) and the National Bureau of Economic Research
(website: http://www.arec.umd.edu/jlist/).
For Further Information: contact John List on +1-301-405-1288 (fax: +1-301-
314-9091; email: jlist@arec.umd.edu); or RES Media Consultant Romesh
Vaitilingam on 0117-983-9770 or 07768-661095 (email:
romesh@compuserve.com).