Altruism and market integration

A nationwide lost-letter experiment in Italy, in which stamped, sealed, addressed, but unmailed letters were dispersed in public spaces across 188 communities, revealed a strong positive association between a community’s level of market integration and the probability of a passerby mailing the letter; this association held for letters addressed to foreign names as well as Italian names, suggesting that market exchange facilitates expansion of prosocial behavior beyond group boundaries, according to the authors.

###

Article #18-19934: “Market integration accounts for local variation in generalized altruism in a nationwide lost-letter experiment,” by Delia S. Baldassarri.

MEDIA CONTACT: Delia S. Baldassarri, New York University, NY; tel: 917-916-2434; e-mail:

[email protected]