Giving begets giving: Positive path dependence as moral consistency

Stephanie A. Heger and Robert Slonim

Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 2022, vol. 204, issue C, 699-718

Abstract: We design an experiment to ask whether morally-motivated behavior, e.g., charitable giving, is history-dependent. Using a popular policy nudge, the default option, we exogenously vary altruistic behavior “now” and show that charitable giving “now” causes a 66%- 200% increase in the probability of giving “later”; that is, giving begets giving. We further show that, consistent with psychological 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.

Keywords: Charitable giving; Moral consistency; Path-dependence (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:204:y:2022:i:c:p:699-718

DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2022.10.044

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