This research provides the first support for a possible psychological universal: Human beings around the world derive emotional benefits from using their financial resources to help others (prosocial spending). In Study 1, survey data from 136 countries were examined and showed that prosocial spending is associated with greater happiness around the world, in poor and rich countries alike. To test for causality, in Studies 2a and 2b, we used experimental methodology, demonstrating that recalling a past instance of prosocial spending has a causal impact on happiness across countries that differ greatly in terms of wealth (Canada, Uganda, and India). Finally, in Study 3, participants in Canada and South Africa randomly assigned to buy items for charity reported higher levels of positive affect than participants assigned to buy the same items for themselves, even when this prosocial spending did not provide an opportunity to build or strengthen social ties. Our findings suggest that the reward experienced from helping others may be deeply ingrained in human nature, emerging in diverse cultural and economic contexts.

We estimate the risk attitudes of a large sample of individuals from various fishing communities along the west coast of South Africa. Female fishers and rights holders are found to be more risk averse than their male counterparts, while rights holders are found to be less risk averse relative to subjects without fishing rights. Risk attitudes are found to be correlated with compliance with fisheries regulations. In particular, a greater degree of risk aversion translates into a reduction in compliance. Furthermore, in the case of gender, female fishers and rights holders are more likely to comply with fisheries regulations.

No abstract

No abstract

This paper analyses the impact of income inequality on public good provision in an experimental setting. A sample of secondary school students were recruited to participate in a simple linear public goods game where income heterogeneity was introduced by providing participants with unequal token endowments. The results show that endowment heterogeneity does not have any significant impact on contributions to the public good, and that consistent with models of reciprocity, low and high endowment players contribute the same fraction of their endowment to the public pool. Moreover, individuals appear to adjust their contributions in order to maintain a fair share rule. Copyright (c) 2007 The Authors; Journal compilation (c) 2007 Economic Society of South Africa.