The Economics of Non-selfish Behaviour: Decisions to Contribute Money to Public Goods

In standard economic theory human beings are portrayed as selfish money-maximizing actors. This book investigates the conditions under which people deviate from this prediction and when they are prepared to contribute to the common good in a more altruistic fashion.

Based on field experiments from charitable giving, Stephan Meier analyses people's decisions to contribute to public goods. He argues that people are more likely to contribute if their giving is matched by more money - people ar...