Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/33333 
Year of Publication: 
2006
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 2064
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
In this paper, we propose a decision framework where people are individually asked to either actively consent or dissent to some pro-social behavior. We hypothesize that confronting individuals with the choice of engaging in a specific pro-social behavior contributes to the formation of issue-specific altruistic preferences while simultaneously involving a commitment. The hypothesis is tested in a large-scale field experiment on blood donation. We find that this active-decision intervention substantially increases the stated willingness to donate blood, as well as the actual donation behavior of people who have not fully formed preferences beforehand.
Subjects: 
active decision
pro-social behavior
field experiment
blood donation
JEL: 
C93
D64
I18
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size
181.32 kB





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.