Racial Group Affinity and Religious Giving: Evidence from Congregation-Level Panel Data

31 Pages Posted: 6 Dec 2014

See all articles by Valentina P. Dimitrova-Grajzl

Valentina P. Dimitrova-Grajzl

Virginia Military Institute

Peter Grajzl

Washington and Lee University - Department of Economics; CESifo

A. Joseph Guse

Washington and Lee University - Williams School of Commerce, Economics, and Politics

J. Smith

Georgia Gwinnett College

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: December 4, 2014

Abstract

Since giving to religious organizations constitutes a substantial portion of total charitable giving, an understanding of the determinants of religious giving is a vital policy concern. Drawing on a novel congregation-level panel dataset, we examine whether religious giving is driven by preferences for racial group affinity, that is, loyalty to one's own racial group. To address endogeneity concerns, we combine a fixed effects estimation framework with an instrumental variable approach. We find robust evidence consistent with the racial group affinity motive: a decrease in the percent of whites in the county is ceteris paribus associated with a decrease in the total giving receipts collected by predominantly white congregations.

Keywords: religious giving, racial group affinity, diversity, congregations

JEL Classification: D64, L31, Z12, J15

Suggested Citation

Dimitrova-Grajzl, Valentina P. and Grajzl, Peter and Guse, A. Joseph and Smith, J., Racial Group Affinity and Religious Giving: Evidence from Congregation-Level Panel Data (December 4, 2014). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2534127 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2534127

Valentina P. Dimitrova-Grajzl

Virginia Military Institute ( email )

Department of Economics and Business
Scott Shipp Hall
Lexington, VA 24450
United States

Peter Grajzl (Contact Author)

Washington and Lee University - Department of Economics ( email )

Lexington, VA 24450
United States

HOME PAGE: http://home.wlu.edu/~grajzlp/

CESifo ( email )

Poschinger Str. 5
Munich, DE-81679
Germany

A. Joseph Guse

Washington and Lee University - Williams School of Commerce, Economics, and Politics ( email )

Lexington, VA 24450
United States

J. Smith

Georgia Gwinnett College ( email )

1000 University Center Lane
Lawrenceville, GA 30043
United States

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