Social networks and externalities from gift exchange: Evidence from a field experiment

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Currie, Janet; Lin, Wanchuan; Meng, Juanjuan
• 署名单位: Princeton University; Peking University
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF PUBLIC ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0047-2727
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2013.08.003
• 发表日期: 2013
• 页码: 19-30
• 关键词: gift exchange; externalities; Antibiotics prescription

摘要

This paper asks whether gift exchange generates externalities for people outside of the bilateral relationship between the gift giver and recipient, and whether the nature of this relationship is affected by social networks. We examine this question in the context of a field experiment in urban Chinese hospital outpatient clinics. We first show that when patients give a small gift, doctors reciprocate with better service and a fewer unnecessary prescriptions of antibiotics. We then show that gift giving creates externalities for third parties. If two patients, A and B are perceived as unrelated, B receives worse care when A gives a gift. However, if A identifies B as a friend, then both A and B benefit from A's gift giving. Hence, we show that gift giving can create positive or negative externalities, depending on the giver's social distance to the third party. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.