What is it in simple terms?

The good feeling from giving is itself a reason to give.

What does it mean for policy?

Government spending may not crowd out giving fully, and easy, visible giving can boost participation.

Warm-Glow Giving

📈 Economics By CampusDown Wiki Editorial Team Last updated October 27, 2026

Warm-glow giving, proposed by economist James Andreoni, explains charitable donations as motivated not only by concern for outcomes but also by the private satisfaction of having done good.

Contents

1. Problem with pure altruism
2. Impure altruism
3. Evidence
4. FAQ
5. References

Problem with pure altruism

Becker's (1974) pure altruism predicts full crowding out and widespread free riding, contrary to observed giving.

Impure altruism

Andreoni (1989, 1990) added utility from giving itself, explaining partial crowding out and influencing public goods and public goods game research.

Evidence

Harbaugh and colleagues (2007) found neural reward from voluntary giving; Crumpler and Grossman (2008) found giving without impact; Dunn and colleagues (2008) linked prosocial spending to happiness; DellaVigna and colleagues (2012) identified social pressure.

FAQ

What is it in simple terms?: The good feeling from giving is itself a reason to give.
What does it mean for policy?: Government spending may not crowd out giving fully, and easy, visible giving can boost participation.

Sources reviewed: 2026-10-26

References

Becker, G. S. (1974). A theory of social interactions. Journal of Political Economy, 82(6), 1063–1093. The pure-altruism benchmark.
Andreoni, J. (1989). Giving with impure altruism: Applications to charity and Ricardian equivalence. Journal of Political Economy, 97(6), 1447–1458. Introduced impure altruism.
Andreoni, J. (1990). Impure altruism and donations to public goods: A theory of warm-glow giving. Economic Journal, 100(401), 464–477. The defining warm-glow paper.
Harbaugh, W. T., Mayr, U., & Burghart, D. R. (2007). Neural responses to taxation and voluntary giving reveal motives for charitable donations. Science, 316(5831), 1622–1625. Neural evidence for warm glow.
Crumpler, H., & Grossman, P. J. (2008). An experimental test of warm glow giving. Journal of Public Economics, 92(5–6), 1011–1021. Experimental evidence.
Dunn, E. W., Aknin, L. B., & Norton, M. I. (2008). Spending money on others promotes happiness. Science, 319(5870), 1687–1688. Prosocial spending and happiness.
DellaVigna, S., List, J. A., & Malmendier, U. (2012). Testing for altruism and social pressure in charitable giving. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 127(1), 1–56. Separates altruism from social pressure.

Reports and materials that use this theory (Korean)

There are no materials dedicated to this theory yet, but you can search related reports in the CampusDown library (Korean).

Find more reports · Search '따뜻한 빛 효과' on CampusDown →

Public goodWhat a public good is in economics, non-rivalry and non-excludability, examples, the free-rider problem and market failure, the four types of goods, and the tragedy of the commons.📈 Economics Free-Rider ProblemWhat the free-rider problem is: benefiting without paying, non-excludable public goods, Samuelson's theory, Olson's group-size argument and selective incentives, experimental evidence, Ostrom's institutions and applications to firms.📈 Economics Reciprocal AltruismWhat reciprocal altruism is: how costly help can evolve among non-relatives when it is returned later, Trivers's conditions, Axelrod's tournaments, animal evidence and debate, Nowak's five rules and human reciprocity.🔬 Natural Sciences Public Goods GameWhat the public goods game is: players contribute to a pool that is multiplied and shared. Covers rules and predictions, declining contributions, conditional cooperation, altruistic and antisocial punishment, and intuition and cooperation.📈 Economics

Latest ArticlesView all ›

New guides for college study and assignments (Korean)

This article was last updated on October 27, 2026. It is based on widely recognized original works and textbooks; when citing it in a paper, please check the original sources listed in the references.