When Income Depends on Performance and Luck: The Effects of Culture and Information on Giving By: Pedro Rey-Biel (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and Barcelona GSE) ; Roman Sheremeta (Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University and the Economic Science Institute at Chapman University) ; Neslihan Uler (Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan)

URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:chu:wpaper:15-12&r=ltv

We study how giving depends on income and luck, and how culture and information about the determinants of others’ income affect this relationship. Our data come from an experiment conducted in two countries, the US and Spain, which have different beliefs about how income inequality arises. We find no cross-cultural differences in giving when individuals are informed about the determinants of income, but when uninformed, Americans give less than Spanish. Culture and information not only affect individual giving, but also the determinants of giving and the beliefs about how income inequality arises. Beliefs partially moderate cross-cultural differences in giving.

Keywords: individual giving, information, culture, beliefs, laboratory experiment
JEL: C91 D64 D83

URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:chu:wpaper:15-12&r=ltv