Prague Economic Papers 2020, 29(2):207-225 | DOI: 10.18267/j.pep.730

A Novel Strategy to Assess Motives Behind Private Transfers

Kevin Luoa
a Kobe University, Graduate School of Economics, Kobe, Japan

This study surveys the conventional methods and their limitations in assessing motives for private transfers. Based on the concept of "effective altruism" - a genuine altruist offers help instead of demanding, this study proposes a normative and discriminative strategy to help distinguish the transfer motives, focusing on whether income transfer persists over time. Its application to Chinese interfamily transfers reveals that altruistic motives do exist but play an insignificant role at the aggregate level.

Keywords: Private transfer, transfer motives, altruism, egoism, interfamily transfer
JEL classification: D12, D64, I30

Received: July 10, 2018; Accepted: April 15, 2019; Prepublished online: December 20, 2019; Published: April 15, 2020  Show citation

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Luo, K. (2020). A Novel Strategy to Assess Motives Behind Private Transfers. Prague Economic Papers29(2), 207-225. doi: 10.18267/j.pep.730
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