Abstract:

Government and non-profit aid programs often require recipients to contribute their own resources to receive benefits. We examine whether this requirement affects support for these programs using both a laboratory experiment with a standard subject pool and a field experiment with nearly 5,000 nationally representative Americans. Participants are asked to support a food aid program through a donation, under one of several conditions: 1) when the recipient makes no contribution 2) when the recipient pays 10% of the cost 3) when the recipient pays 50% of the cost and 4) when the recipient has to expend time to receive the food. In both studies, we find that small monetary contributions by recipients increase support for the program compared to both no contribution and high monetary contributions. Contributions of time by the recipient also increase donations. We examine potential mechanisms for these results and find evidence that donors prefer when recipients have `skin in the game' as a means of targeting those who most need and value the good.