Racial Group Affinity and Religious Giving: Evidence from Congregation-Level Panel Data

Valentina Dimitrova-Grajzl, Peter Grajzl, Guse A. Joseph and Smith J. Taylor
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Guse A. Joseph: Department of Economics, Washington and Lee University, Lexington, VA, USA
Smith J. Taylor: Georgia Gwinnett College, Lawrenceville, GA, USA

The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, 2016, vol. 16, issue 2, 689-725

Abstract: Since giving to religious organizations constitutes a substantial portion of total charitable giving, an understanding of the determinants of religious giving is a vital policy concern. Drawing on a novel congregation-level panel dataset, we examine whether religious giving is driven by preferences for racial group affinity, that is, loyalty to one’s own racial group. To address endogeneity concerns, we combine a fixed effects estimation framework with an instrumental variable approach. We find robust evidence consistent with the racial group affinity motive: a decrease in the percent of whites in the local community is ceteris paribus associated with a decrease in the total giving receipts collected by predominantly white congregations. The magnitude of this effect does not vary with the extent of racial residential segregation in the community. The effect, however, is driven by the congregations in urban (as opposed to rural) communities. We offer a possible explanation for this result.

Keywords: religious giving; racial group affinity; diversity; congregations (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D64 J15 L31 Z12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Working Paper: Racial Group Affinity and Religious Giving: Evidence from Congregation-Level Panel Data (2014)
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DOI: 10.1515/bejeap-2015-0131

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