Does Publicizing a Tax Credit for Political Contributions Increase Its Use?: Results From a Randomized Field Experiment

We present the results of an experiment using nonpartisan, informational direct mail—of the sort that a public relations–conscious government agency might use—to encourage Ohio voters to contribute money to political candidates. Ohio provides full tax credits of up to $50 to citizens who make contributions to state candidates. We found that the mailing produced a modest and marginally significant increase in the number of citizens who filed for the tax credit. This is consistent with earlier survey research findings by two of the authors suggesting that increased knowledge of the tax credit would be likely to increase its use. The experiment suggests that direct mail campaigns might not be the most cost-effective means for encouraging increased contributions. However, even a modest increase in participation could have important effects, given the small size of the current donor pool.

本研究报告了一项实验的结果：我们使用无党派信息型直邮信函——这类信函常为注重公共关系的政府机构所采用——来鼓励俄亥俄州选民向政治候选人捐款。俄亥俄州规定，公民向州级政治候选人捐款可获得最高50美元的全额税收抵免。我们发现，该直邮活动使得申请该税收抵免的公民数量出现小幅且边际显著的增长。这与本文两位作者此前的问卷调查研究结果相契合：此前研究曾指出，提升民众对该项税收抵免政策的认知水平，将有望提高其使用率。本实验表明，直邮宣传或许并非提升捐款参与度的最具成本效益的途径。但考虑到当前捐赠者群体规模较小，即便只是小幅的参与度提升，也可能带来不容忽视的重要影响。