Visible minorities and majority giving

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Résumé (français)

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Résumé (anglais)

We are the first to examine empirically if the presence of minority individuals affects the decision to give to charities by majority individuals. We focus on two giving decisions by the majority population. The first is giving to any charitable organization; the second is giving to organizations geared to international causes. Our findings suggest that the larger the proportion of minorities in a given community, the more likely that members of the majority group living in that community give to international causes. But, for the decision to give in general, the opposite holds true: the presence of minorities exerts a negative influence on this decision, consistent with Putnam’s, and others, finding that living in a heterogeneous community has a deleterious effect on charitable giving (Alesina & La Ferrara, 2000 & 2002).