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Gifts as governance: Church Welfare and the Samaritan's dilemma

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 September 2019

Nathan P. Goodman  and
Roberta Q. Herzberg
Nathan P. Goodman*
Affiliation:
Department of Economics, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, 22030
Roberta Q. Herzberg
Affiliation:
Mercatus Center, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, 22030
*
*Corresponding author. Email: ngoodman@gmu.edu
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Abstract

How do gifts relate to formal and informal institutions? Giving gifts, especially in the form of anti-poverty aid, opens the givers to a serious social dilemma: the Samaritan's dilemma. We explain how the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints uses a mixture of formal and informal governance to provide sustainable social welfare programs that avoid this dilemma. These institutions not only govern aid arrangements, but also provide governance across the entire Church community, encouraging religious adherence and broad-based participation.

Keywords

Giftinstitutionseconomics of religionSamaritan's dilemmainformal institutionsadministrative structure
Type
Symposium on Institutional Analysis and the Gift
Information
Journal of Institutional Economics , Volume 16 , Issue 5 , October 2020 , pp. 703 - 714
Copyright
Copyright © Millennium Economics Ltd 2019

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