An econometric analysis of household donations in the USA

This study investigates philanthropy, an American tradition. A censored system of donation equations is estimated by full-information maximum likelihood, using data from the 1995 Consumer Expenditure Survey. Results suggest that the censored system estimates are more appropriate than the single-equation estimates attempted in much of the donation literature. Income, age, and education are contributing factors of donation, regardless of whether it is to charity, religious organizations, or other organizations.