Discussion paper

DP15535 Altruism born of suffering? The impact of an adverse health shock on pro-social behaviour

‘Altruism born of suffering’ (ABS) predicts that, following an adverse life event such as a health shock, individuals may become motivated to act pro-socially. However, this has not yet been examined systematically. Using data from the United States Panel Study of Income Dynamics, we find that a health shock does not lead to a general increase in pro-social behaviour. Instead, ABS is akin to a specific shock that affects giving to health charities, with an increase in the probability of giving and amounts donated to health charities coming at the expense of other non-religious charities.

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Citation

Black, N, E De Gruyter, D Petrie and S Smith (2020), ‘DP15535 Altruism born of suffering? The impact of an adverse health shock on pro-social behaviour‘, CEPR Discussion Paper No. 15535. CEPR Press, Paris & London. https://cepr.org/publications/dp15535