Patience and Giving: Global Evidence Based on Longitudinal and Linguistic Data

Why do people engage in philanthropy? After merging aggregated Gallup World Poll data over the 2006 to 2022 period with data from the Global Preferences Survey, I demonstrate that, in countries with more patient populations, people are more likely to donate money, help a stranger, and volunteer their time. In within-country regressions based on the 1995-2022 European Values Study and World Values Survey data, I establish a positive link between saving behavior and charity membership. By employing the linguistic roots of post-industrial time preferences as an instrument, I verify that the effects of long-term orientation on giving can be interpreted as causal.