Billur Aksoy, a fifth year PhD student, received the highly competitive National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant ($20,055) with her co-advisor Dr. Silvana Krasteva. Billur and Silvana use economic theory and laboratory experiments to investigate whether providing more information about the value of a public good at the fundraising stage can encourage more donations. The research first develops a theoretical model to investigate the effects of providing information about the project’s value on expected contributions. It predicts that the generosity level of the population plays an important role in how agents respond to information. In particular, information has the potential to increase average contributions in less generous population but may decrease them in more generous population. The researchers then use laboratory experiments to test the predictions of this model, which provide strong evidence in support of the theory. The results of this research have important policy implications for fundraising and public policies related to information provision.

Congratulations, Billur!