Browsing by Author "Knowles, Stephen"
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Alcohol Expenditure, Generosity and Empathy
Fielding, David; Knowles, Stephen; Robertson, KirstenExisting studies suggest that alcohol dependency (or recovery from alcohol dependency) is associated with lower levels of empathy and generosity. We present results from a charitable donation experiment which shows that ... -
Are Survey measures of Trust Correlated with Experimental Trust? Empirical Evidence from Cameroon
Etang, Alvin; Fielding, David; Knowles, StephenWe analyze the correlation between survey-based measures of trust and behavior in the Trust Game in two villages in Cameroon. Some participants play the Trust Game with people from their own village, and others with people ... -
Bilateral foreign aid: How important is aid effectiveness to people for choosing countries to support?
Cunningham, Harry; Knowles, Stephen; Hansen, PaulWe conduct a discrete choice experiment (DCE) to determine how important aid effectiveness is to people relative to other criteria for choosing countries to support with bilateral foreign aid. We find that aid effectiveness ... -
Can You Spare Some Change For Charity? Experimental Evidence On Verbal Cues And Loose Change Effects In A Dictator Game
Fielding, David; Knowles, StephenThere is some evidence from field studies and natural experiments that levels of charitable donation depend on the method in which donations are solicited. There is also some experimental evidence that spending on private ... -
Deadlines, Procrastination, and Inattention in Charitable Giving: A Field Experiment
Knowles, Stephen; Servátka, Maroš; Sullivan, TrudyWe conduct a field experiment to analyze the effect of deadline length on charitable giving. Subjects are invited to complete an online survey, with a donation going to charity if they do so. Participants are given either ... -
Developing countries in need: Which characteristics appeal most to people when donating money?
Hansen, Paul; Kergozou, Nicole; Knowles, Stephen; Thorsnes, PaulA discrete choice experiment was conducted to discover the relative importance of five characteristics of developing countries, as suggested by the literature, considered by people when choosing countries to donate money ... -
Dire Straits v The Cure: Emphasising the Problem or the Solution in Charitable Fundraising for International Development
Clark, Jeremy; Garces-Ozanne, Arlene; Knowles, StephenWe conduct a laboratory experiment to test the effect on charitable donations to international development NGOs (INGOs) of emphasising current deprivation in a developing country, versus emphasising the potential good a ... -
Does Aid Work for the Poor?
McGillivray, Mark; Fielding, David; Torres, Sebastian; Knowles, StephenThis paper econometrically examines the impact of aid on the well-being of population sub-groups within 48 developing countries. This is a radical departure from previous empirical research of aid effectiveness at the ... -
Does Charity Begin at Home or Overseas?
Knowles, Stephen; Sullivan, TrudyWe conduct a field experiment to analyse whether a representative sample of the population has a preference for giving money to an international development charity or to a charity helping families in need in the home ... -
Does social capital affect foreign aid allocations?
Knowles, StephenThis paper explores the issue of whether countries with high levels of social capital give more foreign aid than others. It is often argued that in countries with high levels of social capital (as measured, for example, ... -
Does trust extend beyond the village? Experimental trust and social distance in Cameroon
Etang, Alvin; Fielding, David; Knowles, StephenIn this paper we use experimental data collected in rural Cameroon to quantify the effect of social distance on trust and altruism. Our measure of social distance is one that is relevant to everyday economic interactions: ... -
Erkin Bairam: 1958-2001 His contribution to economics
Knowles, Stephen; McCombie, John S LWith Erkin Bairam’s untimely death on 21 May 2001 at the age of 43, New Zealand lost one its most distinguished and prolific applied economists. Born in Nicosia, Cyprus, most of Bairam’s working life was spent in the ... -
Giving to Africa and Perceptions of Poverty
Etang, Alvin; Fielding, David; Knowles, StephenWe conduct a simple experiment in which student participants are invited to give some of the money that they have earned to an international development charity. In different treatments, participants are given different ... -
How Close to Home Does Charity Begin?
Brown, Pike; Grimson, Duncan; Knowles, StephenThis paper uses a field experiment to analyse the extent to which people are more inclined to support a charity focused on people or causes in their own region, compared to regions in other parts of the country. New Zealand ... -
In Search of Effective Altruists
Genç, Murat; Knowles, Stephen; Sullivan, TrudyThe effective altruism movement argues that people wanting to do the most good they can should donate to charities fighting poverty in poor countries overseas, rather than to charities helping people in need in wealthy ... -
Inequality and economic growth: The empirical relationship reconsidered in the light of comparable data
Knowles, StephenAll of the recent empirical work on the relationship between income inequality and economic growth has used inequality data that are not consistently measured. This paper argues that this is inappropriate and shows that ... -
Measuring aid effectively in tests of aid effectiveness
Fielding, David; Knowles, StephenIn the extensive empirical literature on aid effectiveness, aid is always measured as a share of GDP. However, measuring aid in real dollars per capita is also consistent with standard growth theory. We show that the choice ... -
National environmental performance: a cross-sectional analysis
Grafton, R Quentin; Knowles, StephenUsing cross-country data from a sample of low, middle and high-income countries, the paper explores the empirical relationships between national measures of social capital (civic and public), social divergence and social ... -
Quantifying compliance costs of small businesses in New Zealand
Alexander, W Robert J; Bell, John D; Knowles, StephenThis paper reports on a small-scale study of the compliance costs of small New Zealand businesses. Participating firms were asked to keep a record of both time spent and expenditure directly incurred over a thirteen-week ... -
Survey Trust, Experimental Trust and ROSCA Membership in Rural Cameroon
Etang, Alvin; Fielding, David; Knowles, StephenBroadly speaking, economic experiments and surveys have found trust to be much lower in Africa than in industrialized countries. We analyze new experimental and survey results from rural Cameroon, where the average level ...