Voorintholt, L., Soetevent, A. R., & van den Berg, G. J. (2026). Measuring worries about climate change: The effect of a subtle wording change. Journal of Economic Psychology, 115, Article 102904. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joep.2026.102904

Voorintholt, L. (2023). Substitutes or complements: a budget-based analysis of the relationship between donating and volunteering. Oxford Economic Papers, 75(4), 1033–1052. https://doi.org/10.1093/oep/gpad022.

Voorintholt, L. (2020). Discounting beyond death: an exploration of intergenerational distribution

preferences. Reinvention: an International Journal of Undergraduate Research, 13(1).

https://reinventionjournal.org/article/view/491.

Voorintholt, L. (2025). Prosocial preferences and behavior: insights from climate change concerns, donating, and volunteering. [Thesis fully internal (DIV), University of Groningen]. University of Groningen, FEB Research Institute. https://doi.org/10.33612/diss.1479998691

Voorintholt, L., van den Berg, G.J., & Soetevent, A.R. (2025). For the future of our grandchildren: grandparenthood and climate change concerns. IZA Discussion Paper No. 17795.

https://docs.iza.org/dp17795.pdf. Revise and resubmit, European Economic Review.

Abstract:

Concerns about offspring's life quality are often cited as a motivation for caring about climate change. This paper investigates the hypothesized causal effect of grandparenthood on climate change worries, using panel data surveys among British families. Specifically, we study whether becoming a grandparent increases these worries. We employ two different study designs to deal with endogeneity of grandparenthood. The assumptions required to identify causal effects differ and are non-nested. However, results based on the two approaches are remarkably congruent. We find no empirical support for a relationship between grandparental status and concerns about climate change. 

Tassi, A. & Voorintholt, L. (2026). The effects of monetary compensation on paid volunteers: Quasi-experimental evidence from Germany. IAAEU Discussion Papers No. 05/2026. https://www.iaaeu.de/images/DiscussionPaper/2026_05.pdf. Submitted.

Short abstract:

In recent decades, volunteering has expanded from completely unpaid work to the possibility of receiving a small (tax-free) monetary compensation, with the goal of stimulating voluntarism. Using data from German income tax returns, our empirical analysis leverages a policy change from 2013 that increased the tax-free threshold for volunteer compensations. Combining a difference-in-differences approach with a duration model, we find no evidence that increased compensation binds volunteers to their position for more years. We also find no spillover effects on labor earnings or donations. As monetary incentives have limited effects, we suggest exploring nonincentive-based measures to stimulate paid volunteering.

• Beyond compound interest: Environmental framing and the understanding of exponential growth (joint with Adriaan Soetevent & Gerard van den Berg)

A summary with the initial findings from the above project is included in the following:

Vine, J., Aguirre, E., Al Baghal, T., Benzeval, M., Burton, J., Butler, C., Chung, H., Couper, M., Coutrot, A., Delaney, L., Fowler, C., Jäckle, A., Kumari, M., Lieutaud, M., Mansfield, K. L., Mitchell, L., Parutis, V., Payne, J., Popli, G., Przybylski, A. K., Raj, S., Ratcliffe, A., Soetevent, A. R., Spiers, H., van den Berg, G. J., Voorintholt, L., & Wang, S. (2024). Understanding Society Innovation Panel wave 16: Results from methodological experiments and new data (Understanding Society Working Paper Series No. 2024–11). Understanding Society. https://www.understandingsociety.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/working-papers/2024-11.pdf 

• Grandparental labour supply: The effect of having a grandchild and the role of childcare expansion in Germany