Can Prosocial Attitudes Be Nurtured? Experimental Evidence from the Scholarship Program Reform by Korea University

Abstract

We extend the conventional perspective of economic research, that individuals' preferences are exogenously given or shaped by exogenous shocks, to assess whether and to what extent an artificial policy intervention that requires adult individuals to engage in social activities can nurture pro-social attitudes. In particular, we exploit the novel experience of Korea University's social work-based scholarship program, which obligates recipients to teach children of low-income families, to disentangle the nurturing, proximity, self-selection, and screening effects on preferences. The estimated model provides strong evidence for the nurturing hypothesis, that is, that 'social engagement enhances pro-social attitudes.'