Generosity Across the Income and Wealth Distributions

Abstract

Discussing how the rich spend their income is a topic of popular interest among the public and policymakers, yet little evidence exists that the wealthy are less likely to donate than other income groups, and the results of those studies that do are dubious due to questionable methodology and use of data. This issue of PERCspectives on Research summarizes working paper 2007, where Jonathan Meer, along with co-author Benjamin A. Priday, estimate the relationship between pre-tax income, wealth, and charitable giving to definitely answer whether the wealthy embody the stingy stereotype or are due more credit for their generosity.