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Charity and Public Libraries: Does Government Funding Crowd-out Donations?

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  • Amir Borges Ferreira Neto

    (West Virginia University, Department of Economics)

Abstract

There are over 9,000 public libraries in the United States servicing more than 1.5 billion people and raising over $11.5 billion dollars in revenue with approximately 8% of this total coming from donations. This paper analyzes the determinants of donations to public libraries testing the following hypothesis: is there a crowding-out effect from government funding of public libraries? I address this issue by looking at novel data, the Public Library Survey, and use panel from 2000 to 2013. The results suggest a crowding in effect in all levels of government: 4 to 6 cents in local government, 20 to 23 cents in state government and 75 cents to 1 dollar and 33 cents in federal government. Also, the government expenditure has an inverted U shape.

Suggested Citation

  • Amir Borges Ferreira Neto, 2017. "Charity and Public Libraries: Does Government Funding Crowd-out Donations?," Working Papers 17-02, Department of Economics, West Virginia University.
  • Handle: RePEc:wvu:wpaper:17-02
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    Cited by:

    1. Amir Borges Ferreira Neto, 2023. "Do public libraries impact local labour markets? Evidence from Appalachia," Spatial Economic Analysis, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(2), pages 216-238, April.
    2. McCannon, Bryan C. & Ferreira Neto, Amir B., 2021. "Charitable giving for cultural goods: Asymmetric gender responses to votes on tax increases," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 204(C).
    3. Andrade Agudelo, Doris Lilia & Fernández-Cantero, Angy Lorena & Velásquez-Galeano, Dayana Andrea, 2023. "Efficient Provision of Public Goods: Supply and Demand of Public Libraries in Colombia," Revista Finanzas y Politica Economica, Universidad Católica de Colombia, vol. 15(2), pages 307-330, July.
    4. Brian Garrod & David Dowell, 2020. "The Role of Childhood Participation in Cultural Activities in the Promotion of Pro-Social Behaviours in Later Life," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(14), pages 1-16, July.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Charity; Crowd-out; Donation; Government Spending; Public Libraries;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H41 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Public Goods
    • Z11 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economics of the Arts and Literature

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