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Demographic differences in the effect of price on giving in a diverse population

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2025

Luke Lillehaugen ,
Porter Ludwig  and
Robert L. Mayo Open the ORCID record for Robert L. Mayo [Opens in a new window]
Luke Lillehaugen
Affiliation:
Offutt School of Business, Concordia College, 56562 Moorhead, MN, USA
Porter Ludwig
Affiliation:
Offutt School of Business, Concordia College, 56562 Moorhead, MN, USA
Robert L. Mayo*
Affiliation:
Offutt School of Business, Concordia College, 56562 Moorhead, MN, USA
*
e-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

We conduct two experiments using a demographically diverse online subject pool to investigate total and extensive price elasticities of giving by age, income, gender, political ideology, and religiosity. A first exploratory experiment finds that religious subjects give more, are more likely to give, and are less sensitive to the price of giving than non-religious subjects. We find no statistically significant differences in price elasticities by age, income, gender, or political ideology. A second pre-registered experiment confirms these findings.

Keywords

AltruismPrice elasticityDemographicsDictator gameMechanical Turk

JEL classification

C99: Other D31: Personal Income, Wealth, and Their Distributions D64: Altruism • Philanthropy • Intergenerational Transfers C91: Laboratory, Individual Behavior C90: General
Type
Original Paper
Information
Journal of the Economic Science Association , Volume 9 , Issue 2 , December 2023 , pp. 157 - 175
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Economic Science Association 2023.

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