However, I saw a few people run through the finish line that did not have a running bib on. One of my friends remarked that they must have ran without registering or paying. One of the individuals actually heard her comment this and responded with “sorry.” I watched them help themselves to some Bodos, starving after their free and uncharitable run. I couldn’t believe that these runners free rode on a philanthropy 5k which benefits babies! I was a bit horrified. Of course, we couldn’t restrict them from running throughout Grounds on the sidewalks and streets, since they are public goods and UVA is a public university. But, races benefiting charity usually require registration fees or small donations so that contributors can feel altruistic. People have an opportunity to feel a “warm glow” knowing that they’re redistributing their income in a small but beneficial way to individuals who need the financial support (in this case, financially aiding families with premature babies). Instead, these individuals chose to free ride on our philanthropy race route as well as the snacks afterwards. I doubt that their marginal benefit of running the race was as large as the marginal benefit of runners who registered and paid, since they did not experience the "warm glow” altruistic feeling that other runners experienced.
Tuesday, November 12, 2019
Free Riding On A 5k
This past Sunday my sorority hosted our first philanthropy 5k which benefitted March of Dimes and prematurity awareness. We had been working hard all fall to sell race tickets to our friends, family, UVA students, and people in the Charlottesville community. Tickets were around $11 and included a T-shirt. The race started at 10:00am by Nameless fields and ended at the Rotunda. We had Bodos, coffee, and fruit set up on the lawn for runners when they finished the race. I arrived at Nameless to check in runners and distribute running bibs, then headed to the Rotunda to make sure I could cheer on runners as they crossed the finish line.
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Ashley, I really like your blog post on the free-riding participants at the Philanthropy 5k that managed to get free Bodo’s Bagels without paying for the run and covering their marginal cost. You make a key point that the non-excludability of the UVA sidewalks on Grounds (a public good) makes it difficult to overcome the free-rider effect. I also appreciate your additional note that those who free-ride are likely to experience less marginal benefit due to the lack of "warm glow" that the paying, altruistic runners experienced by contributing to the cause. Even if free-riders cannot enjoy the entire benefit from the run (lack of warm glow), they do experience the marginal benefit of Bodo’s without incurring the cost which makes me ponder a solution. If your sorority got permission from UVA, perhaps you could have marked off the course to make it excludable from non-payers. However, this solution would have raised the cost of time… A more feasible and less costly solution could be to have bib numbers with a peel off “food ticket” that paying runners could turn in upon completing the run for their Bodo’s Bagels reward. This would be an effective solution to exclude people from free-riding for the finish line treats. Overall, I really enjoyed your blog post, and think you gave a great example of observing the free-rider effect at UVA.
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