Working Paper: NBER ID: w13323
Authors: Daniel M. Hungerman
Abstract: The availability of public funding for charitable church activity has increased dramatically in the past decade. A key dispute over this increased availability is whether congregations' propensity to provide charitable services depends upon the racial composition of the community served. This paper uses three different congregation-level datasets to investigate how race affects charitable church activity. In all three datasets there is evidence that all-white congregations become less charitably active as the share of black residents in the local community grows. This response is found only when looking at charitable activities, not when looking at other types of church activity. Additionally, all-white congregations favorably disposed towards receiving government funding do not respond differently to black residents than do congregations which are not all-white.
Keywords: race; charitable activity; churches; community demographics
JEL Codes: H41; J15; Z12
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| share of black residents (R23) | charitable activity of all-white congregations (D64) |
| share of black residents (R23) | probability of all-white congregations participating in charitable activities (D64) |
| share of black residents (R23) | charitable activity of other congregations (Z12) |