Title

Uncharitable Acts in Charity: Socioeconomic Drivers of Charity-Related Fraud

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

6-7-2020

Abstract

Objective

This article examines determinants of charity-related crimes, focusing on socioeconomic influences. Charity crimes have proliferated in recent years but formal research on their causes is limited.

Method

Estimation methods using robust regression and two-stage least squares are used, employing data across states in the United States obtained from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and other government sources.

Results

The estimation results show that states with heightened cases of identity theft have greater charity-related crimes. However, I found no contagion from border identity theft or border charity crimes. With regard to other social factors, race and ethnic homogeneity were associated with charity crimes. Among economic factors, economic prosperity and economic disparity did not matter, but unemployment was associated with more charity crimes. Different dimensions of charity markets did not significantly matter.

Conclusion

The findings show that other white-collar crimes such as identity theft might be crucially driving charity crimes.

Comments

This article was originally published as Rajeev K. Goel, 2020. "Uncharitable Acts in Charity: Socioeconomic Drivers of Charity‐Related Fraud," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 101(4), pages 1397-1412, July.

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