Charitable Giving in Transition Economies : Evidence from Russia

The economics of philantrhropic behavior in the United States has received considerable attention in the literature over the past 25 years. Until now, however, no major studies on developing or transition economies has appeared. This paper begins to fill this gap, estimating the determinants of charitable giving in Russia in the post-Soviet era using World Bank household-level data. It provides evidence of both similarities and differences with Western countries regarding the effects of income, taxes, and demographics on charitable giving