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Earned, owned, or transferred: are donations sensitive to the composition of income and wealth?

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Listed:
  • Steinberg, Richard
  • Zhang, Ye
  • Brown, Eleanor
  • Rooney, Patrick

Abstract

Using data from COPPS/PSID, we investigate the effects of different forms and sources of income (labor, asset, welfare, and other transfers) and wealth (home equity and other wealth) on household charitable donations (total, religious, secular, combined causes, and the needy). We find that it is important to disaggregate income and wealth and to distinguish the effect of an increase in the level of each component from the effect of the component’s presence. We reject the fungibility hypothesis for income and, except for religious giving and gifts to the needy, for wealth. Past receipt of inheritances affects current giving.

Suggested Citation

  • Steinberg, Richard & Zhang, Ye & Brown, Eleanor & Rooney, Patrick, 2010. "Earned, owned, or transferred: are donations sensitive to the composition of income and wealth?," MPRA Paper 30082, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:30082
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    2. Michalis Drouvelis & Adam Isen & Benjamin M. Marx, 2019. "The Bonus-Income Donation Norm," CESifo Working Paper Series 7961, CESifo.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    donations; income decomposition; wealth decomposition; consumption;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
    • H41 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Public Goods

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