New Data on Charitable Giving in the Panel Study of Income Dynamics

There is considerable interest in the economics of charitable giving (see Clotfelter 1997 and Vesterlund 2003 for reviews), but household surveys containing giving data are rare. This has restricted empirical research. For instance, most empirical research about tax effects on giving use itemized charitable deductions from income tax data, and therefore results are restricted to tax effects on aggregate giving. A household survey can collect data permitting research about tax effects on giving to disaggregated purposes.