Researchers analyzed the donating behaviors of 27,714 US households, the generosity of 1,334 individuals in Germany who played an economic game in which they could give money to other players, and survey data from 30,985 individuals from 30 countries, including history of participation in charitable activities, and found that lower income levels do not lead to increased generosity, even in regions with high economic inequality; the results contradict previous findings that individuals with lower incomes are more charitable than individuals with higher incomes when they reside in a US state with relatively large economic inequality.
Article # 18-07942: "No evidence that economic inequality moderates the effect of income on generosity," by Stefan C. Schmukle, Martin Korndörfer, and Boris Egloff.
MEDIA CONTACT: Stefan C. Schmukle, Leipzig University, GERMANY; tel: +49-3419735902; email: schmukle@uni-leipzig.de
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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences