Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/36298 
Year of Publication: 
2009
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 4458
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
Experimental studies document that financial rewards discourage the performance of altruistic activities, because they destroy intrinsic altruistic motivations. We set up a randomized-controlled experiment, through a survey administered to 467 blood donors in an Italian town, and find that donors are not reluctant to receive compensation in general: A substantial share of respondents declared they would stop being donors if paid a small amount of cash, but we do not find such effects when a voucher of the same nominal value is offered instead. The aversion to direct cash payments is particularly marked among women and older respondents, while there are neither gender nor age differences in the response to the voucher. Implications for research and public policy are discussed.
Subjects: 
Incentives
altruism
public good provision
pro-social behavior
public health
JEL: 
D12
D64
I18
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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