Pro-social behavior after a disaster: parochial or universal? Evidence from a natural experiment in Belgium

In the midst of an ongoing nationwide campaign to collect funds for famine relief in Africa, a storm struck a locally famous outdoor music festival in Belgium. Five participants died, and several hundreds were wounded. We use this event to determine whether pro-social behavior, measured by donations to the campaign, can be affected by a local disaster. Applying a differences-in-differences identification strategy to campaign contributions at the municipality-day level, we show that, after the event, the municipalities affected by the disaster gave more money to the famine relief in Africa campaign than non-affected municipalities. We interpret this finding as evidence that donations to a faraway cause can be positively affected by a local disaster.