The Channel Keeps It · Chapter Three

When the Gift Becomes a Price

Ammanuel Santa Anna · ORCID 0009-0008-3244-0306

Chapter Three of The Channel Keeps It: Reciprocity and the Gift Economy at Work and at Home.

Abstract

A teacher stands at the door of a day-care centre in Haifa, the children's coats on their hooks, one child left on the bench with a picture book. Closing time was four o'clock. It is ten past. The parent arrives, apologises, and the teacher, who has her own child to collect, says it is fine. It is not quite fine, and both of them know it, and that shared knowledge is what brings most parents back on time. Between January and June 1998, the economists Uri Gneezy and Aldo Rustichini ran a study in ten private day-care centres in Haifa, all in the same part of the city. For four weeks they simply recorded how many parents arrived late. Then, in six of the centres, a modest fine for late collection was introduced; the other four carried on as before. The theory was straightforward: add a cost to lateness and lateness should fall. It rose. The number of late parents increased significantly in the centres with the fine. After twelve weeks the fine was removed, and in the four weeks that followed, the higher lateness stayed.

Read the PDFRead the whole bookdoi:10.5281/zenodo.23989028

Cite this chapter

Santa Anna, A. (2026). When the Gift Becomes a Price. In The Channel Keeps It. Luminous Prosperity Inc. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23989028

@incollection{santaanna2026the3,
  author    = {Santa Anna, Ammanuel},
  title     = {When the Gift Becomes a Price},
  booktitle = {The Channel Keeps It},
  chapter   = {3},
  publisher = {Luminous Prosperity Inc.},
  year      = {2026},
  doi       = {10.5281/zenodo.23989028},
  url       = {https://business.hautelumiere.life/library/the-channel-keeps-it/03-when-the-gift-becomes-a-price/}
}

References

  1. Gneezy, U., & Rustichini, A. (2000). A fine is a price. The Journal of Legal Studies, 29(1), 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1086/468061
  2. Fehr, E., Kirchsteiger, G., & Riedl, A. (1993). Does fairness prevent market clearing? An experimental investigation. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 108(2), 437–459. https://doi.org/10.2307/2118338
  3. Gneezy, U., & List, J. A. (2006). Putting behavioral economics to work: Testing for gift exchange in labor markets using field experiments. Econometrica, 74(5), 1365–1384. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0262.2006.00707.x
  4. DellaVigna, S., List, J. A., Malmendier, U., & Rao, G. (2022). Estimating social preferences and gift exchange at work. American Economic Review, 112(3), 1038–1074. https://doi.org/10.1257/aer.20190920
  5. Kube, S., Maréchal, M. A., & Puppe, C. (2012). The currency of reciprocity: Gift exchange in the workplace. American Economic Review, 102(4), 1644–1662. https://doi.org/10.1257/aer.102.4.1644
  6. Mellström, C., & Johannesson, M. (2008). Crowding out in blood donation: Was Titmuss right? Journal of the European Economic Association, 6(4), 845–863. https://doi.org/10.1162/JEEA.2008.6.4.845
  7. Bowles, S. (2008). Policies designed for self-interested citizens may undermine "the moral sentiments": Evidence from economic experiments. Science, 320(5883), 1605–1609. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1152110
  8. Kosfeld, M., Heinrichs, M., Zak, P. J., Fischbacher, U., & Fehr, E. (2005). Oxytocin increases trust in humans. Nature, 435(7042), 673–676. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature03701
  9. Nave, G., Camerer, C., & McCullough, M. (2015). Does oxytocin increase trust in humans? A critical review of research. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 10(6), 772–789. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691615600138

Every chapter of The Channel Keeps It

  1. Chapter OneThe Economy Nobody Invoicesdoi:10.5281/zenodo.23989024
  2. Chapter TwoThe Gift Is Never Freedoi:10.5281/zenodo.23989026
  3. Chapter ThreeWhen the Gift Becomes a Pricedoi:10.5281/zenodo.23989028
  4. Chapter FourReciprocity Is a Root Systemdoi:10.5281/zenodo.23989030
  5. Chapter FiveThe Five-Dollar Day, Rereaddoi:10.5281/zenodo.23989032
  6. Chapter SixThe Warehouse That Paid Moredoi:10.5281/zenodo.23989034
  7. Chapter SevenCommunities That Kept the Giftdoi:10.5281/zenodo.23989036
  8. Chapter EightThe Field Manual: Thirteen Weeksdoi:10.5281/zenodo.23989038
  9. Chapter NineMeasuring What Is Givendoi:10.5281/zenodo.23989042
  10. Chapter TenThe Hard Conversationsdoi:10.5281/zenodo.23989045
  11. Chapter ElevenThe Household Is the Oldest Firmdoi:10.5281/zenodo.23989047
  12. Chapter TwelveA Current, Not a Storedoi:10.5281/zenodo.23989049
  13. The WorkbookThe Workbookdoi:10.5281/zenodo.23989053

The other books in the library

  1. Ecstatic Economics · The Luminous Business MethodologyCash Asleep in the Buildingdoi:10.5281/zenodo.23989319
  2. Ecstatic Economics · The Luminous Business MethodologyChange That Staysdoi:10.5281/zenodo.23989557
  3. Ecstatic Economics · The Luminous Business Methodology · Book TwoEarneddoi:10.5281/zenodo.23989328
  4. Ecstatic Economics · Volume IEnough by Designdoi:10.5281/zenodo.23989348
  5. Ecstatic Economics · The Luminous Business MethodologyLuminous Integral Leadershipdoi:10.5281/zenodo.23989368
  6. Ecstatic Economics · The Luminous Morphic Marketing SeriesLuminous Morphic Marketingdoi:10.5281/zenodo.23989389
  7. Ecstatic Economics · The Luminous Business Methodology · Book OneMindful Leadership Masterydoi:10.5281/zenodo.23989430
  8. Ecstatic EconomicsOwning the Workdoi:10.5281/zenodo.23988988
  9. Ecstatic Economics · The Luminous Business MethodologyThe Customer Already Told Youdoi:10.5281/zenodo.23989055
  10. Ecstatic Economics · Volume IIIThe Economy That Keeps Becomingdoi:10.5281/zenodo.23989451
  11. Ecstatic Economics · Volume VThe Embedded Marketdoi:10.5281/zenodo.23989474
  12. Ecstatic Economics · Volume VIThe Gain Was Always Shareddoi:10.5281/zenodo.23989502
  13. Ecstatic EconomicsThe Long Clockdoi:10.5281/zenodo.23989072
  14. Ecstatic Economics · The Luminous Business MethodologyThe Manager's Weekdoi:10.5281/zenodo.23989102
  15. Ecstatic Economics · Volume IIThe Pasture Was Never Emptydoi:10.5281/zenodo.23989523
  16. Ecstatic Economics · The Luminous Business MethodologyThe Price Nobody Chargeddoi:10.5281/zenodo.23989120
  17. Ecstatic EconomicsThe Second Briefdoi:10.5281/zenodo.23989141
  18. Ecstatic Economics · Volume IVThe Standing Forestdoi:10.5281/zenodo.23989542
  19. Ecstatic Economics · The Luminous Business MethodologyThe Strategy That Reaches the Floordoi:10.5281/zenodo.23989179
  20. Ecstatic Economics · The Luminous Business MethodologyWhere the Flow Stopsdoi:10.5281/zenodo.23989196
  21. Ecstatic Economics · The Luminous Business MethodologyWho Decidesdoi:10.5281/zenodo.23989215

The licence

Free to read, share, quote, translate and teach, non-commercially, for ever, under the Luminous Library Licence 1.0. Every other right is the Author’s. Deposited on Zenodo in the Luminous Prosperity community.