I. Design of Field Experiment
Each semester, every student at the University
of Zurich is asked to decide anonymously
whether to contribute to two charitable funds in
addition to the compulsory tuition fee. They can
make a voluntary donation of CHF 7 (about
$4.20) to a fund that offers low-interest loans to
students in financial difficulty and/or CHF 5
(about $3) to a fund supporting foreign students.
They have the further option not to donate to
either fund.
The data include the decisions of all 37,624
students over a nine-semester period. For the