RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Charitable Giving by Married Couples
JF Journal of Human Resources
JO J Hum Resour
FD University of Wisconsin Press
SP 111
OP 133
DO 10.3368/jhr.38.1.111
VO 38
IS 1
A1 Andreoni, James
A1 Brown, Eleanor
A1 Rischall, Isaac
YR 2003
UL http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/38/1/111.abstract
AB We examine how charitable giving is influenced by who in the household is primarily responsible for giving decisions. Looking first at single-person households, we find men and women to have significantly different tastes for giving, setting up a potential conflict for married couples. We find that, with respect to total giving, married households tend to resolve these conflicts largely in favor of the husband’s preferences. Bargaining over charitable giving, rather than letting one spouse take charge, is estimated to reduce giving by at least 6 percent. When the woman is the decisionmaker, she will still make a significantly different allocation of those charity dollars, preferring to give to more charities but to give less to each. Our results give new insights into both the demographics of charitable giving and the costliness of household bargaining.