Individualism, economic freedom, and charitable giving

Meina Cai, Gregory W. Caskey, Nick Cowen, Ilia Murtazashvili, Jennifer Brick Murtazashvili and Raufhon Salahodjaev

Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 2022, vol. 200, issue C, 868-884

Abstract: We investigate the role of individualistic social rules and norms in charitable giving. Individualism in market societies is often criticized as corrupting morality and discouraging charitable giving. We contest that view. We propose direct and indirect mechanisms through which individualism increases charity. In the direct channel, individualism encourages self-interested giving. In the indirect channel, individualism contributes to charity by reinforcing economic freedom. We use evidence from a large cross-section of countries and several measures of individualism to investigate both channels. Our empirical findings confirm each channel and support the insights of classical liberals, such as Adam Smith and David Hume, and more recent studies in the humanomics tradition, which recovers the argument that individualism has its virtues.

Keywords: Philanthropy; Culture; Individualism; Institutions; Classical liberalism (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: B52 D31 D64 L14 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:200:y:2022:i:c:p:868-884

DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2022.06.037

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