Working Paper: CEPR ID: DP17030
Authors: Kimberley Scharf; Carlo Perroni; Sasha Talavera; Linh Vi
Abstract: We explore the link between online salience and charitable donations. Using a unique dataset on phone text donations that includes detailed information on the timing of cash gifts to charities, we link donations to time variation in online searches for words that appear in those charities’ mission statements. The results suggest that an increase in the online salience of the activities pursued by different charities affects the number and volume of donations made to those charities and to charities that pursue different goals. We uncover evidence of positive “own- salience” effects and negative “cross-salience” effects on donations.
Keywords: charitable donations; online search; news shocks
JEL Codes: H41; D12; D64
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Online salience of charitable activities (D64) | Number of donations (D64) |
| Online salience of charitable activities (D64) | Volume of donations (D64) |
| Increased online searches for specific charity-related keywords (D64) | Higher donations (D64) |
| Increase in search intensity for one charity category (D64) | Decrease in donations to other charity categories (D64) |