Researchers used the world’s largest tracker of financial charity from the years leading up to and then into the pandemic, while also conducting controlled experimental games. Both inquiries found that the pandemic made Americans more generous with their money.
Researchers examined the relationship between the presence of COVID-19 and generosity, first using a dataset, provided by Charity Navigator. This first dataset consisted of actual charitable-giving spanning July 2016 through December 2020.
This dataset found that 78% of U.S. counties with a COVID-19 threat increased the total amount donated in March 2020 compared to March 2019. Even more encouraging, the charitable amounts increased the most when the degree of danger from the virus was highest.
The second data set of 1,000 people came from a controlled experiment using the “dictator game” in which one player (the dictator) receives $10 and makes a unilateral decision on how to divide it between themselves and a stranger.
Researchers found that dictators were almost 10% more generous with their $10 stake after COVID-19 arrived in the individual’s country.
The researchers wrote – “Amidst the uncertainty, fear, and tragedy of the pandemic, we find a silver lining: people became more financially generous toward others.”