Doctoral Dissertation Research: The "Give" and "Take" on Restaurant Tipping

这项研究利用实验室实验和从弗吉尼亚州里士满的几家餐厅收集的调查数据，探索了餐厅小费的各个方面，以及它们对消费者(给予者)和服务生(索取者)的影响。几个消费者方面的问题将得到解决。例如，桌子的大小对顾客给小费的动机有什么影响？标准经济理论预测，小费大小和桌子大小之间存在反向关系，但这种关系在经验上成立吗？另外，餐桌的构成对顾客给小费的动机有什么影响？例如，女性给的小费比男性多吗？经济学中有大量研究发现，女性比男性更慷慨，但在给小费的情况下，这一点也适用吗，特别是当男性在女性面前给小费的时候？最后，这项研究考察了最近(2002年6月)最高法院在美国诉意大利公司案中的裁决，该裁决允许美国国税局根据信用卡收据估计餐厅的小费收入。在服务器端，这项研究调查了小费池对服务器工作的影响。小费池是一种服务器报酬的方法，在这种方法中，服务器之间平等地分享他们的所有小费。标准小费安排下的服务，即服务员自己保留所有客户的小费，是否优于小费汇集安排下的服务？在这里，标准经济理论认为，在标准小费安排下的服务应该超过在小费汇集安排下的服务。这项研究中研究的问题有几个重要的影响。首先，这项研究应该有助于解释为什么一些餐厅会在大型餐桌上的账单上自动增加服务费，而其他餐厅则不会；第二，它提供了洞察为什么一些餐厅比其他餐厅更有可能使用汇集小费作为服务员报酬的方法。第三，这项研究将为最高法院在美国诉意大利公司案中的裁决的效果提供证据，该裁决允许美国国税局根据信用卡收据估计餐厅的小费收入。全美餐饮协会的一份声明称：“10家餐厅中有7家是小企业，其中许多都是利润微薄的企业。坦率地说，这一决定可能意味着一家餐厅是继续营业还是关门。”最后，经济学中有一篇相当大的关于性别差异的文献，它分析了男性的行为是否以及为什么会与女性不同。这项研究将通过探索小费行为的性别差异来增加这方面的文献。

Using both laboratory experiments and survey data collected from several Richmond, Virginia restaurants, this study explores various aspects of restaurant tipping, along with their implications for both the consumer (the "give") and the server (the "take"). Several consumer-side issues will be tackled. For example, what impact does the size of the table have on a customer's incentive to tip? Standard economic theory predicts an inverse relationship between tip size and table size, but does this relationship hold empirically? Also, what impact does the composition of the table have on a customer's incentive to tip? For example, do women tip more than men? There is a good deal of research in economics that finds that women are more generous than men, but does this also hold true in a tipping situation, especially when men tip in the presence of women? Finally, this study examines the recent (June 2002) Supreme Court ruling in United States v. Fior d'Italia, Inc., which allows the IRS to estimate a restaurant's tip income based on credit card receipts. On the server side, this study investigates the effect of tip pooling, a method of server remuneration in which servers share all of their tips equally among each other, on server effort. Is service under a standard tipping arrangement, whereby the server retains, for himself, all of his customers' tips, superior to service under a tip pooling arrangement? Here, standard economic theory says that service under a standard tipping arrangement should exceed that under a tip pooling arrangement. The issues that are examined in this study have several important implications. First, this study should help to explain why some restaurants add an automatic service charge onto bills at large tables, while others do not; secondly, it provides insight into why some restaurants are more likely than others to use tip pooling as their method of server remuneration. Third, this study will provide evidence of the effect of the Supreme Court ruling in United States v. Fior d'Italia, Inc., which allows the IRS to estimate a restaurant's tip income based on credit card receipts. A statement by the National Restaurant Association said that "Seven out of 10 restaurants are small businesses, many of which operate with slim margins. Quite frankly, this decision could mean the difference between a restaurant staying in business or closing its doors." Finally, there is a fairly sizeable literature in economics on sex differences, which analyzes both whether, and why, men behave differently than women. This study will add to that literature by exploring sex differences in tipping behavior.