The relation between effort and altruism

Previous research has shown that individuals are not purely selfish. Not only do they care about their own payoff, they also care about the payoff of others. This paper examines the differences in altruistic behavior depending on how much effort individuals exert in earning money. This was tested with a laboratory experiment in the form of a dictator game, in which the subjects were Dutch high school students. The results showed that the subjects donated roughly the same amount regardless of the origin of the endowment. It was found that the percentage of the total endowment donated, decreases as the endowment increases.