Journal of Public Economics · 2023 · Marco Castillo、Ragan Petrie、Clarence Wardell
中文摘要
向慈善机构捐款需要时间、精力和注意力。如果捐赠成本被认为很大,慈善机构可能会因此损失捐款。我们针对这类一般性滋扰成本的存在开发了一种非参数检验,并开展了一项大规模田野实验,以表明捐赠成本相当可观且具有重要影响。潜在捐赠者若其捐款达到或超过某一最低金额(如1美元、5美元或10美元),即可获得5:1的固定配捐。在不存在滋扰成本的情况下,捐款概率应随最低金额的提高而下降。我们发现的结果恰恰相反。我们估计,样本中约一半捐赠者的滋扰成本达到7美元或更高。消除这些成本将使捐款翻倍。因此,试图扩大小额捐赠者捐款的慈善机构面临挑战。相比以一比一配捐补贴所有捐款的常规做法,对超过某一门槛的捐款提供固定配捐——其实质上是覆盖了滋扰成本——可能更为有效。
Abstract
Donating to charity requires time, effort and attention. If the costs to give are perceived to be large, charities may lose out on donations. We develop a nonparametric test for the presence of these general nuisance costs and conduct a large-scale field experiment to show that costs to give are sizable and impactful. Potential donors were offered a 5:1 fixed match if their donation met or exceeded a minimum amount (e.g. $1, $5 or $10). Absent nuisance costs, the probability of donating should decrease as the minimum amount increases. We find the opposite. We estimate that about half of donors in our sample have nuisance costs of $7 or more. Eliminating these costs would double donations. Charities seeking to expand donations from small donors thus face challenges. Offering a fixed match for donations above a certain threshold may be more effective, by essentially covering nuisance costs, than the standard practice of subsidizing all donations with dollar-for-dollar matches.