My own selfish altruism

I went out for dinner with some out of town friends. There was leftover pizza, so I took it home since they couldn't keep it. Outside of CVS I saw the guy that usually begs there and gave him the pizza. A casual reader would call this altruistic. However, there are some other important facts. First of all, I did not have gloves so whatever hand I was carrying the pizza with would freeze after 5 seconds out of my jacket pocket. Secondly, I was about to go into CVS and it would have been awkward to carry the pizza in. Third, I had not paid for the pizza (as evidenced by the fact that it wasn't consumed at the restaurant) so my attachment to it was less than if I had a sunk cost in it. Lastly, the guy was pretty obese, so deep dish pizza probably wasn't what a benevolent social planner would have given him.

Altruism

People often claim I am selfish because I have strong preferences for individual spending. I don't like tit-for-tat spending on rounds of drinks at a bar, or appetizers before a meal. I don't like the incentives it gives me, and I don't like the incentives it gives other people. I understand and am in favor of paying for national defense, police, and even healthcare for other people, I'm all for taxes for public goods. But how this extends to the repeated game of buying drinks at a bar or saying I got this one, you get the next one I don't know. If I go out with a bunch of friends I end up spending a lot more money than I would if we all just paid for our own stuff. This is not because I am paying more of a share than others, it's just that my consumption is increased to a point where marginal cost is higher than marginal benefit.

People claim they buy rounds, or bring something to share because they are altruistic, which I say is not correct. It's arguable whether even giving money anonymously to a charity is altruistic, but I think that depends on semantics. But buying drinks or something to share is all about increasing one's own reputation. I'm not claiming this is what goes through everyone's head when they decide to do it, but it is the base reason why it is a part of social norms and possibly part of human nature. If you are really altruistic, just give me a cash transfer and I'll use it on what I get the most utility from which given your altruism will also give you the most utility. If, instead, you are interested in your own reputation, make a public display of generosity.

</rant>