Adam Smith Business School

Christa Brunnschweiler, University of East Anglia

"Allies and prosociality during armed conflict: Experimental evidence from the Russo-Ukrainian war"
Tuesday, 9 May. 3 pm
Room 305. Main Building

Abstract

Survival in armed conflicts often requires prosocial behavior, i.e. citizens helping others at personal cost. We study how allied help - in the form of matching donations and the identity of the matched donor - can influence two forms of prosociality of the victims (donation behavior and volunteering) during the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine. In an online experiment in Ukraine in May 2022 we randomly assigned participants to either a matched donation or no-match (our control group), varying the identity of the matched donors (Ukrainian, Western, or unspecified). We find that there is no overall significant impact of matching donors or matched donor identity on donations or intentions to volunteer. However, respondents closest to the combat area donate on average 20 percent less in the control group, but they increase donations by 42 percent when matched with donors identified as Ukrainian or Western. An identified donor also doubles the share of those closest to the hostilities who express an intention to volunteer (conditional on not having volunteered before). An examination of the reasons for donation decisions reveals that identified matched donors act as allies who support prosociality amongst those most exposed to conflict. We do not find any significant treatment effects on stated risk preferences, reciprocity, trust or altruism.

Bio

Christa is an Associate Professor in Economics at the School of Economics at UEA. Her research interests are in applied economics. She has mainly explored topics in economic growth and development, particularly in resource economics and conflict studies. She has recently been studying how we can change attitudes and behaviour for better natural resource management using behavioural economics. In her research, she uses secondary data, as well as primary data gathered through surveys, field experiments, and lab experiments. She is also fascinated by economic history and how it helps us understand present-day economic and political activities, and she loves delving into old books and archives. She studied political science, economics and Russian literature at the University of Zurich, Switzerland. After spending two years working first for a bank in Zurich and then an audit and consulting firm in Moscow, she returned to academia and got a PhD in economics from the University of Zurich while working as a doctoral researcher at ETH Zurich. She subsequently held academic positions at ETH Zurich and NTNU (Norway) before coming to the UK.

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First published: 29 March 2023