Altruism or association?

Paternal Altruism or Smart Parent Altruism? Paternal Altruism or Smart Parent Altruism?

If the bene ciary of an altruist's gift can be expected to use this gift e ciently, then a pure altruist (one who cares about the bene ciary's utility level, but not how utility is obtained) should only give gifts of money. This is often interpreted to mean that any other type of gift is evidence of paternal altruism. However, it is known (Linbeck and Weibull (1988)) that altruism creates an in...

Final Project: Altruism or Just Showing Off

What is the association between religious affiliation and children’s altruism?

Decety et al.[1] examined the relationships between household religiosity and sociality in children sampled from six countries. We were keenly interested in Decety et al.[1]'s conclusions about a negative relationship between religiosity and generosity - measured with the Dictator Game - as our team has investigated related questions, often with potentially contrasting findings [2-5]. We argue ...

Women or Children? Intra-household redistribution under gender-asymmetric altruism

Indraneel Dasgupta Abstract In developing societies, social norms typically ascribe differential weights to paternal, maternal and communal (or state) contributions to children’s expenses. Individuals internalize these valuations. I examine a Cournot model of voluntary contribution to children’s goods in a twoadult household, where both spouses may have marginal rates of substitution across pat...

China’s health assistance to Africa: opportunism or altruism?

China has made substantial health commitments to Africa in the past several decades. However, while much has been written regarding China-Africa aid overall, relatively little attention has been given to China's health aid. To better understand these investments, we provide an overview of the current framework and characteristics of China's health aid to Africa. China's health assistance has be...