What Determines Giving To Hurricane Katrina Victims? Experimental Evidence On Income, Race, And Fairness

The authors investigate determinants of private and public generosity to Katrina victims using an artifactual field experiment. In this experiment, respondents from the general population viewed a short audiovisual presentation that manipulated respondents' perceptions of the income, race, and deservingness of Katrina victims in one of two small cities. Respondents then decided how to split $100 between themselves and a charity helping Katrina victims in this small city. They also collected survey data on subjective support for government spending to help the Katrina victims in the cities.