Altruism Begets Altruism

Arbeitspapier

Guided by Bem's (1972) self-perception theory, we design an experiment to ask whether morally-motivated behaviour, e.g., charitable giving, is history-dependent. Using a popular policy nudge, the default option, we exogenously vary altruism "now" and show that giving "now" causes a 66%- 200% increase in the probability of giving "later"; that is, altruism begets altruism. We further show that, consistent with self-perception theory, the choice to behave altruistically "now", rather than the nudge itself, is the crucial element in the causal relationship. These findings are consistent with a model of positive path-dependence, which we interpret as moral consistency.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: CESifo Working Paper ; No. 9522

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft
• Subject: altruism ; nudge ; moral consistency

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Heger, Stephanie A. ; Slonim, Robert
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Center for Economic Studies and ifo Institute (CESifo)
• (where): Munich
• (when): 2022

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/252039
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:41 AM CET