Working Papers in Economics
No 180:
Crowding Out in Blood Donation: Was Titmuss Right?
Carl Mellström ()
and Magnus Johannesson ()
Abstract: In his seminal 1970 book, The Gift Relationship, Richard
Titmuss argued that monetary compensation for donating blood might crowd
out the supply of blood donors. To test this claim we carry out a field
experiment with three different treatments. In the first treatment subjects
are given the opportunity to become blood donors without any compensation.
In the second treatment subjects receive a payment of SEK 50 (approx. $7)
for becoming blood donors, and in the third treatment subjects can choose
between a SEK 50 payment and donating SEK 50 to charity. The results differ
markedly between men and women. For men the supply of blood donors is not
significantly different among the three experimental groups. For women
there is a significant crowding out effect. The supply of blood donors
decreases by almost half when a monetary payment is introduced. There is
also a significant effect of allowing individuals to donate the payment to
charity, and this effect fully counteracts the crowding out effect.
Keywords: Crowding out; monetary incentives; field experiments; altruism; (follow links to similar papers)
JEL-Codes: C93; D64; I18; Z13; (follow links to similar papers)
35 pages, October 6, 2005, Revised February 8, 2008
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- This paper is forthcoming as:
-
Mellström, Carl and Magnus Johannesson, 'Crowding Out in Blood Donation: Was Titmuss Right?', Journal of the European Economic Association.
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