Giving with Impure Altruism: Applications to Charity and Ricardian Equivalence
1989/12/01 by James Andreoni · 3,224 citations
Business, Management and Accounting · Economics, Econometrics and Finance · Mathematics · Psychology · Social Sciences · #Altruism (biology) #Economic theories and models #Economics #Equivalence (formal languages) #Financial Literacy, Pension, Retirement Analysis #Gender, Labor, and Family Dynamics #Keynesian economics #Mathematics #Microeconomics #Neoclassical economics #Positive economics #Psychology #Ricardian equivalence #Social psychology
paper · doi:10.1086/261662
published in Journal of Political Economy 97(6), 1447-1458 (University of Chicago Press)
openalex publication_date 1989/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30
Abstract
Models of giving have often been based on altruism. Examples include charity and intergenerational transfers. The literatures on both subjects have centered around neutrality hypotheses: charity is subject to complete crowding out, while intergenerational transfers are subject to Ricardian equivalence. This paper formally develops a model of giving in which altruism is not "pure." In particular, people are assumed to get a "warm glow" from giving. Contrary to the previous literature, this model generates identifiable comparative statics results that show that crowding out of charity is incomplete and that government debt will have Keynesian effects.
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