Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin - Department of Social Sciences - Berlin Graduate School of Social Science

Cohort

BGSS Generation 2016

Sess.EuroPhD

Title

Economic inequality, material well-being and monetary donations

Abstract

Charitable giving is a widespread social phenomenon and powerful mechanism to finance various public goods. One of the long-standing questions in the research on philanthropic behavior is how relative economic position and objective material circumstances affect monetary donations. My doctoral project explores links between economic inequality, material well-being and contributions for charitable causes using insights from contemporary psychological, sociological and economic theories. In order to address these questions panel and times series cross-sectional data from representative population surveys are analyzed with the help of up-to-date statistical models and techniques strengthening counterfactual causal inference in observational settings. Impact of economic disparity is evaluated by linking spatial information with increasingly available micro-geographical indicators. After in-depth study of several countries cross-national differences and their possible causes will be examined.