The Effects of An Economic Education on Philanthropic Activity

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2020-12

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Abstract

This study examines whether there exists a relationship between the number of economic degree holders in a state and the level of philanthropic activity. This hypothesis is consistent with economics students being exposed to thinking about overall economic efficiency. This study uses panel data from the American Community Survey regarding individual educational attainment. Two sources of philanthropy are utilized, individual giving from the IRS, and receipts by philanthropic organizations from their 990 forms. I build a panel data set using US states from 2009-2017. After controlling for a number of other important influences including income, I find that the fixed effects regression results show that as the share of female economics major rises, individual giving rises. Conversely, however, male economics majors are found to engage in less philanthropy than the average of other college graduates. No statistically significant effects are found using the organizational income data.

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Philanthropy

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