‘Medical altruism in mainstream health economics: theoretical and political paradoxes’ comments

In this article, which was published in the September 2014 issue of the Review, Batifoulier and Da Silva examine the role of medical altruism in health economics. They argue that abandoning homo economicus and the mainstream practice of incorporating patient well-being in the doctor’s utility function in order to explain the clinical behavior of doctors and switching from profit maximization to medical altruism both lead to a dead end. We agree but the authors leave us with no way out. We argue instead that the doctor’s clinical behavior whether expressed in terms of utility or altruism is not a fit subject for economics. The way out is to restrict economics to health care issues with financial dimensions. In their article, Batifoulier and Da Silva bring their French experience to the table. We bring to the table our American experience with more than 40 years of hands-on care for patients along with the experiences of four other physicians in our extended family. The specialties include intensive care pediatrics, emergency medicine, intensive-care pulmonary medicine, dermatology, and otolaryngology. Our premise in responding to Batifoulier and Da Silva is that apart from payment for services rendered, there probably are no serious differences in the actual practice of medicine in France compared to the United States. And even if there are such differences, they are matters to be taken up by medicine not economics.     

Can Ecolabeling Schemes Preserve the Environment?

A three-stage game of production technology, signal and price competition is developed to study the impact of eco-labeling, in a duopoly model of vertical product differentiation. The production technology and the subsequent pollution level are non-observable by consumers. The only way to inform consumers about the environmental quality of the product is to stick an ecolabel on it. However, a polluting firm may also usurp the ecolabel by incurring a certain cost. By assuming that consumers are altruistic and willing to pay for environmental quality, we show that ecolabels can reduce the pollution level. Finally and importantly, under restrictive conditions on labeling cost, ecolabeling can constitute to some extent an environmentally effective and economically efficient policy. However, ecolabeling cannot alone internalize the whole negative externality until the optimum point.      

Religion and the sociological critique of political economy: Altruism and gift

Abstract

This article shows that there is a strong connection between the religious component of French sociology and the critique of political economy. In the first section, I consider how selfish behaviour, or egoism, became treated as a major threat endangering the creation of industrial society by those concerned about the diffusion of political economy. I then summarise the methodological critique set forth in the Cours, before connecting this critique to the economic content of the Système and the concept of altruism. In the following section, Spencer's view of altruism is contrasted to that held by Comte, and then I consider the reaction of French political economists, defending the moral value bought about by their science. In the final section, I explain how the Comtean approach was re-enacted by Durkheim and then by Mauss, at the head of the “sociology of religion” section of L'Année sociologique, the Durkheimian journal, to give birth to the theory of gift-giving behaviour that Mauss used to critique political economy in the 1920s.     

Estate taxation with warm-glow altruism

This article examines the properties of the optimal fiscal policy in an economy with warm-glow altruism (utility interdependence) and heterogeneous individuals. We propose a new efficiency concept, D-efficiency, that considers an implicit constraint in the act of giving: Donors cannot bequeath to donees more than their existing resources. Considering this constraint, we show that the market equilibrium is not socially efficient. The efficient level of bequest transfers can be implemented by the market with estate and labor-income subsidies and a capital-income tax. In the absence of lump-sum taxation, the government faces a trade-off between minimizing distortions and eliminating external effects. The implied tax policy differs from Pigovian taxation since the government’s ability to correct the external effects is limited. Finally, we show that the efficiency-equity trade-off does not affect the qualitative features of the optimal distortionary fiscal policy.

What motivates common pool resource users? Experimental evidence from the field

This paper develops and tests several models of pure Nash strategies of individuals who extract from a common pool resource when they are motivated by a combination of self-interest and preferences for altruism, reciprocity, inequity aversion, or conformity. Using data from experiments conducted in three regions of Colombia that depend critically on a local fishery, we test whether an econometric summary of the subjects’ pure Nash strategies is consistent with one or more of these models. We find that a model that balances self-interest with a strong preference for conformity best describes average strategies.     

Show me your mobile and I will tell you who you are: Forecasting consumer compassion and altruism behaviour through smartphone type and usage

Smartphones, as an integral part of human life, can now assist researchers in forecasting human behaviour patterns. Recently, the spread of COVID-19 increased people's reliance on their smartphones, and the resulting lockdown revealed them engaging in a variety of pro-social or virtue-based behaviours. Using the extended self-theory, previous research examined the effects of objects on the human mind and cognitive behaviour in order to identify behavioural segments in smartphone markets. Subsequently, scholars examined smartphone-based (iPhone vs. Android) virtue traits such as honesty and humility. However, other virtues such as compassion and altruism have received little attention in this regard. Thus, this study aims to bridge this gap by analysing the predictability of consumers' compassion and altruism in relation to their smartphone type (iPhone vs Android) and usage. A total of 509 completed questionnaires were received from participants in the United States, Europe, and Asia. According to the findings, iPhone users are more compassionate and altruistic than Android users. This study offers implications for marketers, retailers, and brands in developing strategies based on smartphone user behaviour.     

Choosing Your Object of Benevolence: A Field Experiment on Donation Options*

In a large natural field experiment, we explore the effect of providing donors with the opportunity of choosing the target country for their donations. We find that our treatment manipulation affects neither the average donation size nor the response rate. Only a small fraction of donors (3.5 percent) actually choose their object of benevolence. These donors give more than those who do not specify a recipient. However, based on previous donations, we can only provide indicative evidence that this might be a causal effect rather than a mere selection effect.     

Fertility,social mobility and long run inequality

Dynastic altruistic models with endogenous fertility have been shown to be unable to generate enough intergenerational persistence. Using a Bewley model with endogenous fertility we show that it is possible to recover persistence. Key ingredients for our result include exponential child discounting, discrete number of children, diminishing costs of child rearing, and an elasticity of intergenerational substitution larger than one. Our model provides a unified framework of analysis for long-run inequality that incorporates fertility choices.     

Altruism in tourism: Social Exchange Theory vs Altruistic Surplus Phenomenon in host volunteering

Taking into consideration the scarcity of research on volunteering and altruistic behavior of host communities, this exploratory study examines altruism in tourism from the viewpoint of members of voluntary tourism associations. A literature review reveals two general types of altruism, i.e. reciprocal and true, as well as two theoretical constructs, namely Social Exchange Theory (SET) and Altruistic Surplus Phenomenon (ASP). By taking a sample of 21 members from two voluntary tourism associations located in the municipality of Veria, Northern Greece, this study confirms that reciprocal altruism is one of several motives for participating in voluntary tourism associations. Additionally, it is shown that ASP is more adequate than SET to interpret the study groups’ social behavior.     

The effect of social capital and altruism on seniors' revisit intention to social network sites for tourism-related purposes

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationships among social capital, altruism, common bond and identity, and revisit intention using social capital, altruism, and attachment theories. A total of 452 responses were generated from consumers 50 years of age and older (seniors), qualified as having used a social network site (SNS) for tourism-related products and services within the past 12 months. Results show that social capital has significant effects on common bond and identity while social capital has a slightly greater effect on common identity than common bond. Altruism has significant effects on common bond and identity whereas altruism has a greater effect on common bond than common identity. Common bond and identity both have significant effects on revisit intention. Noticeably, revisit intention is highly influenced by common identity. Therefore, this study provides new knowledge and recommendations to SNS administrators addressing why seniors use SNSs for tourism-related purposes.