Corniciuc, Iarina; Lotti, Lorenzo; Ferrini, Silvia; Ceausu, Silvia; (2026) Spatial scale effects on environmental donations: Evidence from a revised dictator game experiment with real payments. Ecological Economics , 240 , Article 108794. 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2025.108794.

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Abstract

Global environmental issues have consistently failed to attract sufficient funding. Funding gaps are particularly large in low-income countries with most financial resources concentrated in the Global North. However, charitable donations have been identified as a potential channel for increasing financial transfers between high- and low-income countries. This paper examines the role of spatial scale in driving propensity to donate and donation amount for environmental causes. Using a revised dictator game experiment with real payments, contingent valuation elements and indirect reciprocity aspects, we assess whether London residents' donations to improve nature and the environment vary across a range of spatial scales. Participants are randomly allocated to one of three location treatments: local, national or global, and asked how much of a potential £50 lottery prize money they are willing to donate. Results reveal that the willingness to donate to improve nature and the environment increases as scale increases. The statistically significant difference lies between the local versus the national and global treatments. Our results suggest that the parochialism that often impacts human-directed altruism might not apply when the donation target is the environment. This paper posits that donors do not primarily consider reciprocity elements associated with local charities when making contributions, emphasizing the impact of non-use values over use values in donation decisions. Therefore, environmental charities might be more successful in attracting donations through promoting their global rather than local environmental work, especially when appealing to populations similar to that sampled in our study. Further research on the exact mechanisms of environmental altruism at different spatial scales is needed to maximise financial support for the environment.

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