Altruism and the Child Cycle of Alumni Donations

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Meer, Jonathan; Rosen, Harvey S.
• 署名单位: Stanford University; Princeton University
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC JOURNAL-ECONOMIC POLICY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1945-7731
• DOI: 10.1257/pol.1.1.258
• 发表日期: 2009
• 页码: 258-286
• 关键词: reciprocity; colleges; donors; FAMILY

摘要

We study alumni contributions to an anonymous research university. If alumni believe donations will increase the likelihood of their child's admission, and if this belief helps motivate their giving, then the pattern of giving should vary systematically with the ages of their children, whether the children ultimately apply to the university, and the admissions outcome. We call this pattern the child cycle of alumni giving. The evidence is consistent with the child-cycle pattern. Thus, while altruism drives some giving, the hope for a reciprocal benefit also plays a role. We compute rough estimates of the proportion of giving due to selfish motives. (JEL D91, D64, I21)