Increasing Organ Donor Registration as a Means to Increase Transplantation: An Experiment with Actual Organ Donor Registrations

The United States has a severe shortage of organs for transplant. Recently—inspired by research based on hypothetical choices— jurisdictions have tried to increase organ donor registrations by changing how the registration question is asked. We evaluate these changes with a novel “field-in-the-lab” experiment, in which subjects change their real organ donor status, and with new donor registration data collected from US states. A “yes/no” frame is not more effective than an “ opt-in” frame, contradicting conclusions based on hypothetical choices, but other question wording can matter, and asking individuals to reconsider their donor status increases registrations. (JEL C91, D12, D91, I11, I18)