IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/jothpo/v26y2014i1p158-174.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Street-level charity: Beggars, donors, and welfare policies

Author

Listed:
  • Cristian Pérez Muñoz
  • Joshua D Potter

Abstract

Begging is a phenomenon that has largely been ignored by scholars of the welfare state. This is surprising because the presence of beggars in a society tends to be interpreted as the welfare state's failure to adequately provide for its citizens. This paper examines the conditions under which we expect donors to actually give money to beggars at the street level. In particular, it offers a systematic theoretical framework for analyzing interactions between beggars and potential donors. We develop a game theoretic model where potential donors and beggars interact with one another in the context of a broader political environment. The contribution of our approach is twofold. First, it offers equilibria results on the strategic considerations that motivate begging practices. Second, it explains how social welfare policies at the macro-level can indirectly shape the parameters that structure these street-level equilibria.

Suggested Citation

  • Cristian Pérez Muñoz & Joshua D Potter, 2014. "Street-level charity: Beggars, donors, and welfare policies," Journal of Theoretical Politics, , vol. 26(1), pages 158-174, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:jothpo:v:26:y:2014:i:1:p:158-174
    DOI: 10.1177/0951629813493836
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0951629813493836
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0951629813493836?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Burton Abrams & Mark Schitz, 1978. "The ‘crowding-out’ effect of governmental transfers on private charitable contributions," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 33(1), pages 29-39, March.
    2. John Cullis & Philip Jones & Constantine Thanassoulas, 1984. "Are charities efficient ‘firms’? A preliminary test of the UK charitable sector," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 44(2), pages 367-373, January.
    3. Konow, James, 2010. "Mixed feelings: Theories of and evidence on giving," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(3-4), pages 279-297, April.
    4. Andreoni, James, 1993. "An Experimental Test of the Public-Goods Crowding-Out Hypothesis," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 83(5), pages 1317-1327, December.
    5. Obler, Jeffrey, 1981. "Private Giving in the Welfare State," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 11(1), pages 17-48, January.
    6. David C. Ribar & Mark O. Wilhelm, 2002. "Altruistic and Joy-of-Giving Motivations in Charitable Behavior," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 110(2), pages 425-457, April.
    7. repec:bla:kyklos:v:24:y:1971:i:4:p:629-43 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Patricia K. Smith, 2005. "The Economics of Anti‐Begging Regulations," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 64(2), pages 549-577, April.
    9. Roberts, Russell D, 1984. "A Positive Model of Private Charity and Public Transfers," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 92(1), pages 136-148, February.
    10. Gordon Tullock, 1971. "The Cost Of Transfers," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(4), pages 629-643, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Arbel, Yuval & Bar-El, Ronen & Schwarz, Mordechai E. & Tobol, Yossef, 2019. "To What Do People Contribute? Ongoing Operations vs. Sustainable Supplies," IZA Discussion Papers 12180, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Chih, Yao-Yu, 2016. "Social network structure and government provision crowding-out on voluntary contributions," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 83-90.
    3. Lata Gangadharan & Philip J. Grossman & Kristy Jones, 2014. "Deconstructing Giving: Donor Types and How They Give," Monash Economics Working Papers 53-14, Monash University, Department of Economics.
    4. Bolton, Gary E. & Katok, Elena, 1998. "An experimental test of the crowding out hypothesis: The nature of beneficent behavior," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 315-331, November.
    5. Carpenter, Jeffrey, 2021. "The shape of warm glow: Field experimental evidence from a fundraiser," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 191(C), pages 555-574.
    6. Claudia Keser & Andreas Markstädter & Martin Schmidt, 2014. "Mandatory minimum contributions, heterogeneous endowments and voluntary public-good provision," CIRANO Working Papers 2014s-47, CIRANO.
    7. James C. Cox & Vjollca Sadiraj & Susan Xu Tang, 2020. "Morally Monotonic Choice in Public Good Games," Experimental Economics Center Working Paper Series 2020-05, Experimental Economics Center, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University.
    8. Eckel, Catherine C. & Grossman, Philip J. & Johnston, Rachel M., 2005. "An experimental test of the crowding out hypothesis," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(8), pages 1543-1560, August.
    9. Spector, Lee C, 1999. "Macroeconomic Models and the Determination of Crowding Out," Public Finance = Finances publiques, , vol. 54(1-2), pages 84-98.
    10. Gallier, Carlo & Reif, Christiane & Römer, Daniel, 2014. "Consistent or balanced? On the dynamics of voluntary contributions," ZEW Discussion Papers 14-060, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    11. Gruber, Jonathan & Hungerman, Daniel M., 2007. "Faith-based charity and crowd-out during the great depression," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(5-6), pages 1043-1069, June.
    12. Keser, Claudia & Markstädter, Andreas & Schmidt, Martin, 2017. "Mandatory minimum contributions, heterogeneous endowments and voluntary public-good provision," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 291-310.
    13. Yamamoto, Wataru, 2013. "Negative economic consequences of ethical campaigns?: Market data evidence," MPRA Paper 49070, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    14. Prendergast, Canice, 2023. "Organizational design for making a difference," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 218(C).
    15. Stephan Meier & Alois Stutzer, "undated". "Matching Donations - Subsidizing Charitable Giving in a Field Experiment," IEW - Working Papers 181, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - University of Zurich.
    16. Crumpler, Heidi & Grossman, Philip J., 2008. "An experimental test of warm glow giving," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(5-6), pages 1011-1021, June.
    17. Timm Bönke & Nima Massarrat-Mashhadi & Christian Sielaff, 2013. "Charitable giving in the German welfare state: fiscal incentives and crowding out," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 154(1), pages 39-58, January.
    18. Matthew Kotchen & Katherine R.H. Wagner, 2019. "Crowding In with Impure Altruism: Theory and Evidence from Volunteerism in National Parks," NBER Working Papers 26445, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    19. James C. Cox & Vjollca Sadiraj & Susan Xu Tang, 2023. "Morally monotonic choice in public good games," Experimental Economics, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 26(3), pages 697-725, July.
    20. Arthur M. Diamond, 1999. "Does Federal Funding “Crowd In” Private Funding Of Science?," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 17(4), pages 423-431, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:jothpo:v:26:y:2014:i:1:p:158-174. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.