GEOGRAPHIC DISTANCE, INCOME AND CHARITABLE GIVING: EVIDENCE FROM CHINA

Abstract

Using data from a nationwide donation program and a follow-up survey, this paper examines how geographic distance between donors and recipients and the capability to give measured by donors’ income affect the amount of charitable giving (conditioned on having given). We find that an increase in geographic distance significantly reduces donation amounts for 15% of the donors. The sensitivity of donation to distance decreases with total monthly disposable income for 62% of the donors. We further find that donation amounts increase with donors’ income for 4% of the donors when evaluating at the mean or median distance.