Senior Research Seminar: Stephanie A. Heger

Title: "Altruism begets altruism"

  • Date: 03 February 2021 from 13:00 to 14:15

  • Event location: Microsoft Teams

Abstract

Guided by Bem’s (1972) self-perception theory, we design an experiment to askwhether morally-motivated behaviour, e.g., charitable giving, is history-dependent. Usinga popular policy nudge, the default option, we exogenously vary altruism “now” and showthat the nudge-induced choice to give “now” causes a 41 percentage point (or 200%) increasein the probability of giving “later”; that is, altruism begets altruism. We further show that,consistent with self-perception theory, thechoiceto behave altruistically “now”, rather thanthe nudge itself, is the crucial element in the causal relationship. These findings are consistentwith positive path-dependence, which we interpret as moral consistency.

Local Organizers: Elias Carroni, Alessandro Sforza