Are the Rich Really Less Generous Than the Poor? (Update)

A series of academic studies suggest that the wealthy are, to put it bluntly, selfish jerks. It’s an easy narrative to embrace — but is it true? As part of GiveDirectly’s “Pods Fight Poverty” campaign, we revisit a 2017 episode.

• SOURCES:• Jim Andreoni (econweb.ucsd.edu/~jandreon), professor of economics at the University of California, San Diego.
• Nikos Nikiforakis (sites.google.com/site/nnikiforakis), professor of economics at New York University in Abu Dhabi.
• Paul Piff (faculty.sites.uci.edu/piff), associate professor of psychology at the University of California, Irvine.
• Jan Stoop (sites.google.com/view/janstoop/home), associate professor of applied economics at the Erasmus School of Economics.

• RESOURCES:• "Are the Rich More Selfish Than the Poor, or do They Just Have More Money? A Natural Field Experiment (nber.org/papers/w23229)," by James Andreoni, Nikos Nikiforakis, and Jan Stoop (National Bureau of Economic Research, 2017).
• "Exploring the Psychology of Wealth, 'Pernicious' Effects of Economic Inequality (pbs.org/newshour/show/pernicious-effects-of-ec…)," (PBS NewsHour, 2013).
• "Poverty Impedes Cognitive Function (science.sciencemag.org/content/341/6149/976)," by Anandi Mani, Sendhil Mullainathan, Eldar Shafir, and Jiaying Zhao (Science, 2013).
• "Higher Social Class Predicts Increased Unethical Behavior (pnas.org/content/109/11/4086.full.pdf)," by Paul Piff, Daniel Stancato, Stéphane Côté, Rodolfo Mendoza-Denton, and Dacher Keltner (PNAS, 2011).
• "Relative Earnings and Giving in a Real-Effort Experiment (aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/aer.101.7.3330)," by Nisvan Erkal, Lata Gangadharan, and Nikos Nikiforakis (American Economic Review, 2011).
• "Experimenter Demand Effects in Economic Experiments (link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10683-009-9…)," by Daniel John Zizzo (Experimental Economics, 2009).
• "Impure Altruism and Donations to Public Goods: A Theory of Warm-Glow Giving (econweb.ucsd.edu/~jandreon/Publications/ej90.pdf)," by James Andreoni (The Economic Journal, 1990).
• "Privately Provided Public Goods in a Large Economy: The Limits of Altruism (econweb.ucsd.edu/~jandreon/Publications/JPubE8…)," by James Andreoni (Journal of Public Economics, 1987).
• "A Positive Model of Private Charity and Public Transfers (journals.uchicago.edu/doi/pdfplus/10.1086/261212)," by Russell Roberts (Journal of Political Economy, 1984).
• Pods Fight Poverty Campaign on Give Directly (givedirectly.org/podsfightpoverty/?ref=freakra…).

• EXTRAS:• “How to Raise Money Without Killing a Kitten (freakonomics.com/2013/10/10/how-to-raise-money…),” by Freakonomics Radio (2013).

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