Altruistic Responses to the September 11 Terrorist Attacks: Some Evidence from Dictator Games

This paper uses economic experiments to compare altruistic behavior before and immediately after the terrorist attacks. Before September 11 the authors had conducted dictator games in which students were given the option of donating their earnings from the experiment to the American Red Cross. The authors repeated the experiment in late September after the attacks. This paper compares giving before and after the terrorist attacks and evaluates the extent to which altruistic responses before and after the attack differ by gender, major. religious practice and income level. The authors find significant differences in altruistic behavior of women and men. Women donated more than men both before and after the terrorist attacks. In addition, far more women acted as perfect altruists, giving all the money in the experiment to the Red Cross, while far more men acted perfectly selfishly by keeping all the money. Both genders increased giving significantly after the terrorist attacks.