Mario Macis
Assistant Professor of Economics, Carey Business School
Johns Hopkins University
With Discussant
Alex Tabarrok
Bartley J. Madden Chair in Economics
George Mason University
In low- and middle-income countries, blood shortages are frequent and have severe health consequences. Macis will present the results of two unique field experiments that compare the effectiveness of various policy tools to encourage blood donations, including information, social rewards, and financial incentives.
Based on experimental evidence from Argentina, Macis and his coauthors show that (1) economic rewards are the only treatment that generates a positive response, and (2) financial incentives do not create adverse selection, i.e., an increase in ineligible would-be donors or unusable blood donations. In a second experiment in the U.S., the authors examine a number of other potential concerns associated with financial incentives, including substitution of donations across space and time and crowding out of intrinsic motivation. The stark findings from these experiments hold direct lessons for addressing blood shortages in developing countries, and more broadly, for the design of programs to change social norms and encourage other forms of pro-social behavior.
*The Massachusetts Ave. Development Seminar (MADS) is a ten year-old research seminar series that brings some of the world’s leading development scholars to discuss their new research and ideas. The presentations meet an academic standard of quality and are at times technical, but retain a focus on a mixed audience of researchers and policymakers.
