THE ROLE OF ECONOMIC CONSIDERATIONS IN CHARITABLE ACTIVITY

Charitable activity has a fascinating hold on the minds of economists and sociologists: it is the enigma of altruistic behaviour, the need to be able to account for activity which is apparently unselfish, and hence not arising from purely economic considerations. As the giving of charity transcends strictly utilitarian aims, a purely economic view of charity must be abandoned; yet a view according to which economic considerations are not relevant is also misleading. A considered study of charity must encompass both the economic and the moral factors prevailing, since ‘ forms and functions of giving embody moral, social, psychological, religious, legal and aesthetic ideas’. Thus, a true appreciation of the meaning of charity can be achieved only through studying both economic and non-economic considerations in its determination.

In purely economic terms one can make a distinction between what may be called the demand for charity by the poor and its supply by the rich and by charitable institutions. Both the demand and the supply are influenced by economic factors: changes in a society's prosperity and in the distribution of wealth affect the facility with which funds can be allocated for the help of strangers. Concurrently, they also affect the number of people experiencing the need to receive charitable relief. In this chapter I will trace separately the influence of economic circumstances on the well-being of givers and of potential recipients using what is known of the general economic history of the period, and as far as possible of the circumstances of Cambridge.