期刊名称：Economics Discussion Papers / Department of Economics, College of Management and Economics, University of Guelph
出版年度：2006
卷号：2006
出版社：University of Guelph
摘要：People feel a sense of gratitude when they receive gifts, transfers, or assistance. Based on
psychological literature, I argue that gratitude is different from standard notions of
reciprocity. Indeed, people derive utility from in-kind transfers (i.e., feel grateful), even if
they do not like or do not consume the gift. This is because it is the thought that counts,
so long as the donor made a genuine and sincere effort to make the recipient happy. I
incorporate a sense of gratitude into preferences and use it to rationalize Andreoni (1989,
1990) warm-glow of giving. This addresses a critique of Andreoni’s model by Brekke,
Kverndokk, and Nyborg (Journal of Public Economics, 2003). I am also able to explain
the effect of social distance on the degree of redistribution, why government charitable
donations may not crowd out private charitable contributions, the Keynesian effects of
government debt, intrinsic motivation, donations to not-for-profit organizations and the
practice of thanking anonymous referees in academia.
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