Doctoral Dissertation Research in Economics: An Experimental Study of Social Effects in Fundraising

经济学博士论文研究：筹款社会效应的实验研究

• 批准号: 0752754
• 负责人: James Cox
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Georgia State University Research Foundation, Inc.
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2008
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2008-04-01 至 2010-03-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0752754&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Economics; Experimental

This project uses laboratory economic experiments to study strategic and social forces in charitable contributions. The research is modeled on a scenario in which a group of friends each has a child in an activity like the Girl Scouts of the USA. Periodically, each friend must solicit donations from the others for her child's organization. Altruism will influence giving, but social and strategic factors will also be important. A father of a Boy Scout may buy Girl Scout cookies from a colleague hoping that colleague will buy Boy Scout popcorn when that fundraiser comes around. This is trust and reciprocity or strategic coordination. An individual who does not engage in fundraising may still give because she wishes to be viewed as generous.This experiment is based on a "public goods game:" subjects are given tokens that they may keep or share with the group by contributing to a common investment (the public good) that benefits everyone. Subjects' contributions are revealed to each other. One subject each round is the "stakeholder," receiving a high return from the public good. This person represents the individual who fundraises in the real-world scenario. Subjects observe each others' actions and can punish each other by withholding contributions. The project also examines the situation where one or more group member will never be stakeholder (is designated as the "bachelor").Neoclassical economic theory predicts that free-ridership will cause public goods to be underprovided. However, the world provides many examples where people do make significant contributions to public goods. Over the decades, an impressive body of work has developed to explain some of this. This experiment adds to that literature, and is novel in that altruism, self-interested multi-period behavior, and social pressure interact in a controlled setting. The results of the experiment will shed light on how these forces work together, and how they can be used in situations where we wish to encourage altruism and cooperation outside the lab. These insights will expand our understanding of choice in social settings.The broader impact of this research is the insight provided into some commonly-used fundraising techniques harnessing social and strategic forces. The results also have implications for public policy. Many public policy problems are problems of externalities: problems where goods are public, so there is an incentive for people to free ride. In many situations, policy seeks to reduce free-ridership and increase pro-social behavior. An improved understanding of the forces at play in public goods scenarios where contributions are high can provide practical insights. This experiment in particular has applicability to small-scale local and public goods, such as parks, recreation facilities, and local environmental resources

该项目使用实验室经济实验来研究慈善捐助中的战略和社会力量。 这项研究是以一个场景为模型的，在这个场景中，一群朋友每个人都有一个孩子参加美国女童子军这样的活动。 每隔一段时间，每个朋友都必须为她孩子的组织向其他人募捐。 利他主义会影响捐赠，但社会和战略因素也很重要。 一个童子军的父亲可能会从一个同事那里买女童子军的饼干，希望那个同事在筹款活动到来时买童子军的爆米花。 这是信任和互惠或战略协调。 一个不参与筹款的人可能仍然会捐赠，因为她希望被视为慷慨的人。这个实验基于一个“公共产品游戏“：受试者被给予代币，他们可以保留这些代币，或者通过为一项惠及所有人的共同投资（公共产品）做出贡献来与团队分享。 受试者的贡献相互揭示。 每一轮都有一个主题是“利益相关者”，从公共利益中获得高额回报。 这个人代表在现实世界中筹款的个人。 受试者观察彼此的行为，并可以通过扣留捐款来惩罚对方。 该项目还研究了一个或多个群体成员永远不会成为利益相关者的情况（被指定为“单身汉”）。新古典经济理论预测，搭便车将导致公共产品供应不足。 然而，世界上有许多例子表明，人们确实为公益事业作出了重大贡献。 在过去的几十年里，一个令人印象深刻的工作机构已经发展到解释其中的一些。 这个实验增加了文献，是新的，利他主义，利己主义的多阶段行为，社会压力在受控环境中相互作用。 实验的结果将揭示这些力量如何协同工作，以及如何在我们希望鼓励实验室外的利他主义和合作的情况下使用它们。 这些见解将扩大我们对社会环境中选择的理解。这项研究的更广泛影响是对利用社会和战略力量的一些常用筹款技巧的见解。 研究结果也对公共政策产生了影响。 许多公共政策问题都是外部性问题：商品是公共的，所以人们有搭便车的动机。 在许多情况下，政策旨在减少搭便车，增加亲社会行为。 更好地理解在捐款高的公共产品情景中发挥作用的力量可以提供实际的见解。 这一实验尤其适用于小规模的地方和公共产品，如公园、娱乐设施和地方环境资源