Easy come, easy go The role of windfall money in lab and field experiments

• Published in: Experimental economics : a journal of the Economic Science Association Vol. 16; no. 2; pp. 190 - 207
• Main Authors: Carlsson, Fredrik, He, Haoran, Martinsson, Peter
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Boston Springer US 01.06.2013; Springer Science + Business Media B.V; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Behavior; Behavioral/Experimental Economics; Charitable giving Dictator game Laboratory experiment Field experiment Windfall money; Charities; Dictators; Diktatur; Donations; Economic theory; Economic Theory/Quantitative Economics/Mathematical Methods; Economics; Economics and Finance; Endowment; Experimentelle Ökonomik; Experiments; Feldforschung; Fundraising; Game Theory; Games; Laboratories; Marktlagengewinn; Microeconomics; Nationalekonomi; Operations Research/Decision Theory; Public good; Reproducibility; Social and Behav. Sciences; Spieltheorie; Studies; D64; C91; Windfall money; Laboratory experiment; C93; Charitable giving; Dictator game; Field experiment
• ISSN: 1386-4157; 1573-6938
• DOI: 10.1007/s10683-012-9326-8

A growing number of experimental studies focus on the differences between the lab and the field. One important difference between many lab and field experiments is how the endowment is obtained. By conducting a dictator game experiment, we investigate the influences of windfall and earned endowment on behavior in the laboratory and in the field. We find subjects donate more in both environments if the endowment is a windfall gain. However, although the experimental design was intended to control for all effects other than environment, there are significant differences in behavior between the lab and the field for both windfall and earned endowment. This points to the importance of discussing the context when interpreting both laboratory and field experiment results as well as when conducting replication studies.