Working Paper: NBER ID: w18748
Authors: Stefano Dellavigna; John A. List; Ulrike Malmendier; Gautam Rao
Abstract: Do men and women have different social preferences? Previous findings are contradictory. We provide a potential explanation using evidence from a field experiment. In a door-to-door solicitation, men and women are equally generous, but women become less generous when it becomes easy to avoid the solicitor. Our structural estimates of the social preference parameters suggest an explanation: women are more likely to be on the margin of giving, partly because of a less dispersed distribution of altruism. We find similar results for the willingness to complete an unpaid survey: women are more likely to be on the margin of participation.
Keywords: gender differences; generosity; charitable giving; social preferences
JEL Codes: C93; D64; H4
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| men and women exhibit equal levels of generosity (D64) | women become less generous when it is easy to avoid the solicitor (D64) |
| women become less generous when it is easy to avoid the solicitor (D64) | marginality of giving is a significant factor (D64) |
| women are more likely to be on the margin of giving due to a less dispersed distribution of altruism (D64) | marginality of giving is a significant factor (D64) |
| opt-out option significantly lowers the share answering the door (C83) | lowers the share of individuals giving (D64) |
| women are more responsive to social cues and pressures (J16) | influences their giving behavior (D64) |
| mean altruism for women is slightly higher towards one charity (ECU) compared to men (D64) | variance in altruism is lower for women (D64) |