Finance Seminar with Tony Cookson, Leeds School of Business & University of Colorado at Boulder

The Department of Finance is proud to announce the upcoming seminar with Tony Cookson, Leeds School of Business & University of Colorado at Boulder.

Tony Cookson will present: Money to Burn: Crowdfunding Wildfire Recovery

Abstract: 
Person-to-person charity has grown substantially in recent years, yet little is known about who benefits from it. This paper uses micro data on crowdfunding campaigns after a major wildfire to ask whether donors give according to the comparative need of beneficiaries. Linking to personal financial data and holding losses fixed, we find that beneficiaries with incomes above $150,000 receive 28% more support than beneficiaries with income below $75,000 and are more likely to have a campaign in the first place. We document that high-income beneficiaries possess several network advantages when soliciting crowdfunding. However, a networks mechanism does not fully explain why donors who give to multiple campaigns tend to give larger amounts to higher-income beneficiaries. These findings suggest that crowdfunded private charity may exacerbate income inequalities in the recovery process.

Location:
Solbjerg Plads 3
2000 Frederiksberg
Room: SPs03