Worthiness versus SelfInterest in Charitable Giving: Evidence from a LowIncome, Minority Neighborhood Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • We examine the impact of perceived worthiness and financial selfinterest on charitable giving. Both participants and recipients come from a lowincome, predominantly AfricanAmerican community in the United States. To examine this issue, we introduce a Comparative Dictator Game, where participants make dictator allocations for four possible recipients, each with different characteristics. We find higher charitable giving toward more worthy (i.e., disabled, females who are head of household, and individuals with more children) recipients when individuals donate money to different recipients. Additionally, subjects then select their preferred recipient/allocation. When only one recipient must be selected for a donation, individuals select recipients to whom they provided smaller donations and recipients with children. The results highlight the tradeoff between a desire to engage in philanthropy, supporting those who are deserving, and financial selfinterest.

published proceedings

  • Southern Economic Journal

altmetric score

  • 3.85

author list (cited authors)

  • Candelo, N., de Oliveira, A., & Eckel, C.

citation count

  • 10

complete list of authors

  • Candelo, Natalia||de Oliveira, Angela CM||Eckel, Catherine

publication date

  • April 2019

publisher