Joint Crowdout: an Empirical Study of the Impact of Federal Grants on State Government Expenditures and Charitable Donations

36 Pages Posted: 23 Aug 2000 Last revised: 27 Oct 2022

See all articles by Lawrence B. Lindsey

Lawrence B. Lindsey

American Enterprise Institute (AEI); National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Richard Steinberg

University of Cambridge - Judge Business School

Date Written: January 1990

Abstract

We estimate the effect of exogenous federal expenditure cutbacks on state social service expenditures and on charitable donations. In the process, we also estimate tax and income effects and explore the impact of community environment and "need" variables. Data consist of a unique three-year panel of aggregate itemized giving by state and income class and government expenditures by state. Our results confirm the 'flypaper effect' of federal grants on state spending and show statistically significant but partial crowdout of charitable donations. The flypaper effects appears to dominate the crowdout of donations, so that federal grants are especially productive of overall social service expenditures. Finally, we find that the state's poverty rate is a particularly strong and positive determinant of charitable giving.

Suggested Citation

Lindsey, Lawrence B. and Steinberg, Richard Jay, Joint Crowdout: an Empirical Study of the Impact of Federal Grants on State Government Expenditures and Charitable Donations (January 1990). NBER Working Paper No. w3226, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=227983

Lawrence B. Lindsey (Contact Author)

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Richard Jay Steinberg

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