A higher preference for precautionary savings in the midst of the pandemic appears to outweigh altruistic behavior, while government welfare programs crowds out ...
I conduct a real-time analysis of actual charitable donations in three European countries and find that the COVID-19 pandemic and government interventions have no significant effect on how much people contribute to charities as a share of total spending. Disclaimer: IMF Working Papers describe research in progress by the author(s) and are published to elicit comments and to encourage debate. Use the free [Adobe Acrobat Reader](http://www.imf.org/adobe) to view this PDF file