Date created: | Last Updated:

Category: Project

Description: Research plan for an Open Competition - L project submitted to the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO). Abstract: To what extent does the accumulation of wealth reduce feelings of responsibility for society and behavioral manifestations of generosity, such as charitable giving and bequeathing? Since 2003, the level of generosity of the Dutch population, defined as the proportion of resources donated to charitable causes, has declined by about 40%. At the same time, levels of wealth have increased and those with more wealth give considerably less as a proportion of their wealth. Are more generous persons less likely to accumulate wealth? Or does wealth make people care less about those in need? This project answers these understudied questions with innovative longitudinal analyses of unique administrative and survey data and with field experiments. This is the first study of wealth and generosity in the Netherlands over the life course as well as after death through bequests. Also we conduct field experiments in order to increase the amount donated to charities.