Income Distribution Commons^™

A Case Study In Tipping: An Economic Anomaly, Megan Nelson

Crossing Borders: A Multidisciplinary Journal of Undergraduate Scholarship

When dining in a restaurant or having a drink at a bar, do you tip? If yes, what do you base the tip amount on? Is it who you are with? Do men tip more than women? Do you tip less when your actions are masked by a larger group? The answers to these questions are something that economists have struggled to explain. The most difficult question being: Why do people pay an additional amount when they have absolutely no legal obligation to do so? This case study explores the variables that lead to higher or lower tip amounts …