主 讲 人：香港浸会大学助理教授 王睿新
主 题： “Forced” Gifts: a Burden of Being Friend
主 持 人：梁平汉（经济与管理研究院 副教授）
时 间：10月26日（星期一）下午2:00～3:30
地 点：格致楼811（财税学院会议室）
主办单位：实验经济学实验室、财税学院、科研处
摘要:
Gift giving is ubiquitous, and plays an important role in fostering reciprocal relationships by signaling friendship (altruism). Such relationships are especially important in developing countries, as they enable individuals to access support or assistance in times of need or hardship. However, gift expenses recently rise fast and become even burdensome in some developing countries. In this paper, we demonstrate in theory that unequal income growth in community may trigger “gift competition” and drive up gift expenses. Although reluctant, people have to spend more on gifts as others do so, even though their own incomes do not increase. By using a unique census-type data set from 26 villages in rural China, we empirically show that gift competition may adversely affect welfare, particularly to the poor people. As average gift expenses rise by 10 percent, people have to increase their gift expenditures by around 6 percent, in expense of their consumptions, to credibly signal their willingness to engage in reciprocal exchange. The paper uncovers the negative side of gift giving, and helps to understand the impact of the rising gift expenses in many developing countries.
主讲人简介：
王睿新，香港浸会大学助理教授，荷兰蒂尔堡大学经济学博士，曾在国际粮食政策研究所，乔治亚州立大学从事研究工作，主要研究发展经济学，应用微观经济学，人口经济学，公共经济学等。
