Browsing by Author "Johannesson, Magnus"

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    Crowding Out in Blood Donation: Was Titmuss Right?
    (2005) Johannesson, Magnus; Mellström, Carl; Department of Economics
    In his seminal 1970 book, The Gift Relationship, Richard Titmuss argued that monetary compensation for donating blood might crowd out the supply of blood donors. To test this claim we carry out a field experiment with three different treatments. In the first treatment subjects are given the opportunity to become blood donors without any compensation. In the second treatment subjects receive a payment of SEK 50 (≈ $7) for becoming blood donors, and in the third treatment subjects can choose between a SEK 50 payment and donating SEK 50 to charity. The results differ markedly between men and women. For men the supply of blood donors is not significantly different among the three experimental groups. For women there is a significant crowding out effect. The supply of blood donors decreases by almost half when a monetary payment is introduced. There is also a significant effect of allowing individuals to donate the payment to charity, and this effect fully counteracts the crowding out effect.
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    The digit ratio (2D:4D) and economic preferences: no robust associations in a sample of 330 women
    (University of Gothenburg, 2019-02) Parslow, Elle; Ranehill, Eva; Zethraeus, Niklas; Blomberg, Liselott; von Schoultz, Bo; Lindén Hirschberg, Angelica; Johannesson, Magnus; Dreber, Anna; Dept. of Economics, University of Gothenburg
    Many studies report on the association between 2D:4D, a putative marker for prenatal testosterone exposure, and economic preferences. However, most of these studies have limited sample sizes and test multiple hypotheses (without preregistration). In this study we mainly replicate the common specifications found in the literature for the association between the 2D:4D ratio and risk taking, the willingness to compete, and dictator game giving separately. In a sample of 330 women we find no robust associations between any of these economic preferences and 2D:4D. We find no evidence of an effect for sixteen of the eighteen total regressions we run. The two regression specifications which are significant have not previously been reported and the associations are not in the expected direction, and therefore they are unlikely to represent a real effect.