Matching Donations in a Field Experiment
نویسنده
چکیده
This paper tests the effect of matching charitable giving in a randomized field experiment. The students at the University of Zurich have to decide, each semester, whether they wish to contribute to two social funds. The donations of the treatment group are matched by contributions of an anonymous donor. The results support the hypothesis that a matching mechanism increases contributions to a public good. However, in the periods after the experiment, when matching has been stopped, the contribution rate declines sharply for the treatment group. People not only compensate their donations of the matching period, but over-compensate. This leads to a negative net effect of the matching mechanism. The field experiment therefore provides evidence suggesting that the willingness to contribute may be undermined by a matching mechanism in the long run.
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