Generosity during COVID-19: investigating socioeconomic shocks and game framing

The study examines how the negative socioeconomic shock of the COVID-19 pandemic influenced generosity toward different recipients and whether the order of decision tasks (framing) affects social preferences. Using responses from 1255 US participants who played four dictator games over eight weeks in early 2020—allocating $0–$1000 to a relative, a neighbour, an anonymous person, and the government—the authors find generosity increased over time despite worsening pandemic conditions, suggesting increasing perceived marginal benefits of donating during hardship. They also find heterogeneous effects of covariates such as perceived contagion risk on both the likelihood and amount donated across recipients, and identify framing effects: the random order in which games were presented influenced donations, particularly for anonymous recipients, indicating instability of social preferences in the absence of a strong social bond.

Lorenzo Lotti, Shanali Pethiyagoda