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Making an impact? The relevance of information on aid effectiveness for charitable giving. A laboratory experiment

Author

Listed:
  • Laura Metzger

    (ETH Zurich)

  • Isabel Günther

    (ETH Zurich)

Abstract
A considerable and increasing share of foreign aid stems from private donations. Hence, individual donors can increase social welfare in developing countries by directing their funds to the most effective NGOs. Surprisingly few studies have analyzed whether private donors care about aid effectiveness when they donate to an international charity. In a laboratory experiment, we investigate if private donors seek information about the exact impact of their donation to an international NGO before they donate. Furthermore, we investigate how relevant private donors find information about aid impact compared to information about administrative costs, and the recipient type who benefits from a donation. First, we find that a relatively small share of individuals makes a well-informed donation decision. Second, the demand for information about aid impact is lowest, and it is highest for information about the recipient type. Third, exact information about aid impact did not lead to a significant change in average donation levels, while information about the exact recipient type and administrative costs led to a significant change in donation levels. In the recipient type group, informed participants donated significantly more than uninformed participants because they “rewarded” the preferred recipient with higher-thanaverage transfers. In the administration costs group, informed participants donated significantly less than uninformed participants because they used the information to “punish” NGOs with high administration costs.

Suggested Citation

  • Laura Metzger & Isabel Günther, 2015. "Making an impact? The relevance of information on aid effectiveness for charitable giving. A laboratory experiment," Courant Research Centre: Poverty, Equity and Growth - Discussion Papers 182, Courant Research Centre PEG.
    • Handle: RePEc:got:gotcrc:182
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Dean Karlan & John A List, 2012. "How Can Bill and Melinda Gates Increase Other People’s Donations to Fund Public Goods?," Working Papers id:4880, eSocialSciences.
    2. repec:cup:judgdm:v:15:y:2020:i:2:p:159-172 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Billur Aksoy & Silvana Krasteva, 2020. "When does less information translate into more giving to public goods?," Experimental Economics, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 23(4), pages 1148-1177, December.
    4. Kwanho Suk & Triza Mudita, 2021. "Charitable Organizations’ Cost Disclosure Mitigates Overhead Aversion," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(23), pages 1-12, December.
    5. Gani Aldashev & Esteban Jaimovich & Thierry Verdier, 2023. "The Dark Side of Transparency: Mission Variety and Industry Equilibrium in Decentralised Public Good Provision," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 133(654), pages 2085-2109.
    6. Nathan W. Chan & Stephen Knowles & Ronald Peeters & Leonard Wolk, 2024. "Cost-(in)effective public good provision: an experimental exploration," Theory and Decision, Springer, vol. 96(3), pages 397-442, May.
    7. Siemroth, Christoph & Hornuf, Lars, 2023. "Why Do Retail Investors Pick Green Investments? A Lab-in-the-Field Experiment with Crowdfunders," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 209(C), pages 74-90.
    8. Diederich, Johannes & Epperson, Raphael & Goeschl, Timo, 2021. "How to Design the Ask? Funding Units vs. Giving Money," Working Papers 0698, University of Heidelberg, Department of Economics.
    9. Karlan, Dean & List, John A., 2020. "How can Bill and Melinda Gates increase other people's donations to fund public goods?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    10. Christine L. Exley, 2020. "Using Charity Performance Metrics as an Excuse Not to Give," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 66(2), pages 553-563, February.
    11. He, Ke & Wang, Yujie & Zhang, Junbiao & Wang, Qingbin, 2022. "Out of the shadows: Impact of SARS experience on Chinese netizens' willingness to donate for COVID-19 pandemic prevention and control," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    12. Lijun Yin & Ruzhen Mao & Zijun Ke, 2021. "Charity Misconduct on Public Health Issues Impairs Willingness to Offer Help," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(24), pages 1-14, December.
    13. Margaret Samahita & Leonhard K. Lades, 2021. "The Unintended Side Effects of Regulating Charities: Donors Penalise Administrative Burden Almost as Much as Overheads," Working Papers 202106, School of Economics, University College Dublin.
    14. Adena, Maja & Hager, Anselm, 2020. "Does online fundraising increase charitable giving? A nation-wide field experiment on Facebook," Discussion Papers, Research Unit: Economics of Change SP II 2020-302, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    15. KATO, Hiroki & KIM, Youngrok, 2024. "Charity Fraud : An Experimental Study of the Moral Hazard Problem in the Charity Market," Discussion paper series HIAS-E-139, Hitotsubashi Institute for Advanced Study, Hitotsubashi University.
    16. Florian Heeb & Julian F Kölbel & Falko Paetzold & Stefan Zeisberger, 2023. "Do Investors Care about Impact?," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 36(5), pages 1737-1787.
    17. Zhang, Tong & Hu, Wuyang & Zhu, Zhanguo & Penn, Jerrod, 2023. "Consumer preference for food products addressing multiple dimensions of poverty: Evidence from China," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    18. Lucius Caviola & Stefan Schubert & Jason Nemirow, 2020. "The many obstacles to effective giving," Judgment and Decision Making, Society for Judgment and Decision Making, vol. 15(2), pages 159-172, March.
    19. Lefoll, Erwin & Günther, Isabel & Veronesi, Marcella, 2022. "Low Demand for Fair Trade Chocolate: Lack of Efficiency, Attention, Knowledge or Trust?," VfS Annual Conference 2022 (Basel): Big Data in Economics 264065, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    20. Metzger, Laura & Günther, Isabel, 2019. "Is it what you say or how you say it? The impact of aid effectiveness information and its framing on donation behavior," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    21. Hennessy, Jack & Mortimer, Duncan & Sweeney, Rohan & Woode, Maame Esi, 2023. "Donor versus recipient preferences for aid allocation: A systematic review of stated-preference studies," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 334(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Charitable giving; aid impact; aid effectiveness; fairness; social preferences;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D64 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Altruism; Philanthropy; Intergenerational Transfers
    • L31 - Industrial Organization - - Nonprofit Organizations and Public Enterprise - - - Nonprofit Institutions; NGOs; Social Entrepreneurship
    • O12 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development

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