Charitable donations are more responsive to stock market booms than busts

This paper examines aggregate time series data on individual charitable donations from 1968 to 2007. We find that changes in individual giving show an asymmetric response to changes in the S&P 500: individuals are more responsive to stock market upturns than downturns.

Research Highlights► Charitable gifts have grown tremendously from 1968 to 2007, now representing more than 2% of GDP. ► Lagged percentage changes in the S&P 500 explain 36% of the variation in percentage changes of gifts. ► The response is asymmetric: gifts are more responsive to stock market upturns than downturns.