Larger than Life: An Experiment on Mortality Salience, Time Preference and Prosocial Behavior
December 15, 2021 Te Bao

Follow Us


Te Bao is an Associate Professor of Economics at the School of Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. He obtained his Ph.D in Economics in 2012 from CeNDEF, University of Amsterdam. His research interest includes experimental economics, behavioral finance and real estate economics. His works are published in Economic Journal, European Economic Review, Experimental Economics, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization and Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control.


Paper: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1043951X24000804


Abstract: We study how mortality salience influences people's time preference and prosocial behavior in a laboratory experiment. We made mortality salient through priming subjects in the treatment group with grid tasks, and studied its impact on altruistic giving in an Andreoni-Miller dictator game. We found that the priming made subjects think bigger, and become more concerned with the overall social welfare, though it did not necessarily make them care more about their opponents' well-being per se. Subjects in the treatment group became more altruistic only when the price of giving is low. We built a two-period model to explain the mechanism of the findings. Our model showed that the priming altered altruistic giving through changing the subjects' time preference and social preference parameters. Finally, we strengthened our findings by showing that the priming didn't change subjects' mood.



If you would like to give a presentation in a future webinar, contact our Senior Economist Dr. Wen Chen (wen.chen@luohanacademy.com). For other inquiries, please contact: events@luohanacademy.com.




Subscribe to our news
SUBMIT

    Alibaba Digital Ecosystem Innovation Park, No. 1 Ai Cheng Street, Yuhang District, Hangzhou, China.


    events@luohanacademy.com


Luohan Academy    ©  2024《Luohan Academy Service Agreement》 浙ICP备2024120373号-1