Giving in South Africa: Determining the influence of altruism, inequality aversion and social capital

I use data from the South African Social Giving Survey to investigate the role of social capital and motivations for giving to formal charities and beggars. Results suggest that both impure altruism and inequality aversion positively influence giving to formal charities but they have no influence on giving to beggars. The role of social capital is varied. Members of informal insurance groups are more likely to give to both charities and beggars, while members of formal community groups are more likely to give to charities only. Members of interest groups are actually less likely to donate to charities and prefer giving to beggars.

JEL Classification: H41, C31, C35, D64

Keywords: Charitable giving; impure altruism, inequality aversion, social capital, South Africa