Ankara : Department of Economics İhsan Doğramacı Bilkent University, 2014.Thesis (Master's) -- Bilkent University, 2014.Includes bibliographical refences 26-28.In this thesis, the empirical link between individuals donations‘ to charitable
organizations and their levels of life satisfaction is analysed, and the warm
glow motive is tested in this context. Using a national representative data
from US, I observed that there is a positive correlation between reported life
satisfaction and individuals acts of giving. First, I found that individuals
who donate to charitable organizations report a higher level of life satisfaction.
Second, I found that individuals‘ reported life satisfaction levels are
proportional to their amount of contribution to public goods. Consistent
with the warm-glow motive, the life satisfaction level depends individuals‘
own the act of giving and their amount of donation. Third, by using instrumental
variables techniques and selection on observed and unobserved
variables method, the causal relation between the act of donation and individuals‘
reported well-being is shown. Fourth, it is observed that the act of
giving affects the individuals‘ subjective well-being with regard to which type
of organization they donate to. In this regard, the relation between donation
to secular and non-secular charitable organizations and subjective well-being
is examined.Özer, Zülfükar ÖzerM.S
