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Norwegian

Does Public Policy Crowd Out Private Contributions to Public Goods?

Authors:

Nyborg, K. and M. Rege

Year:

2003

Reference:

Public Choice

115 (3): 397-418

Summary

It is sometimes claimed that individuals’ contributions to public goods are not motivated by economic costs and benefits alone, but that people also have a moral or norm-based motivation. A number of studies indicate that such moral or norm-based motivation might be crowded out, or crowded in, by public policy. This paper discusses some models that can yield insight into the interplay between economic and moral or norm-based motivation for voluntary contributions to public goods, and compares their policy implications. We distinguish between five types of models: Altruism models, social norm models, fairness models, models of commitment and the cognitive evaluation theory.

JEL:

D11, H41, Q28

Keywords:

Private provision, altruism, social norms, commitment

Project:

Oppdragsgiver:
Oppdragsgivers prosjektnr.:
Frisch prosjekt:

Contact:

karine.nyborg@frisch.uio.no