We conduct a study of altruistic behavior among high school students using the dictator game. We find a much stronger norm of equal splitting than previously observed in the typical university student population, with almost 45% of high school subjects choosing an equal split of the endowment....

Using a field experiment eliciting the risk preferences of 490 9th and 11th grade students from a variety of school environments, we examine various factors influencing the development of these risk preferences. In addition to factors previously considered by economists (gender, ethnicity,...

Historically, positive reinforcement (PRI) for charitable giving happens after the fact; thank-you letters, calls, or gifts from the charities to donors. With online giving becoming more prominent, this creates an opportunity for instantaneous PRI. Our study offers the first evidence, to our...

Attempts by charities to motivate giving tend to focus on potential donors’ altruistic tendencies. However, prior research suggests that approximately 50% of individuals are to some extent motivated by warm glow, the satisfaction received from being “seen” to be doing one’s part to help...

We introduce a novel experimental procedure to measure altruistic giving along a spectrum, from warm glow to pure altruism, by eliciting willingness to pay to increase the likelihood that a donation is received by a recipient. Whereas previous methods identify pure warm-glow motives, our...

Beliefs are increasingly recognised as an important driver of behaviour, but measuring beliefs is not straightforward. We design a giving experiment to compare beliefs (about others) using different elicitation mechanisms when self-serving motives may compete with accuracy incentives. Consistent...