Heterogenous effects of the Great East Japan earthquake on prosociality of people depending on their age

This study investigates the instability of prosociality in the real world by looking at the age-specific non-linear relationship between disaster exposure and prosocial behavior. We employed unique microdata from two communities in Japan that were hit by the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami disaster in 2011. Exploiting exogenous variations in disaster exposure, we find age-specific heterogeneous effects of disaster exposure on prosocial behavior captured by the behavior of sending New Year’s cards as well as attitudinal survey questions. Among the older groups, disaster damages undermine prosociality, whereas the younger groups show reinforced prosocial behaviors. These findings can be explained consistently by combining two possible determinants of prosocial behavior: pure or impure altruism and self-enforcements in repeated interactions at workplaces. Age information can help disentangle these two elements at least partially.