The Most Generous Countries On Earth

The United States is the fifth most-generous country on earth, tied with Switzerland, according to a new ranking from Gallup’s World Giving Index.
The index is based on surveys and other research on 153 different countries, which together constitute about 95 percent of the world’s population. The survey asks in part about charitable behavior, including donations, volunteering habits and taking time to help strangers. Based on this index, Australia and New Zealand are tied as the most-generous nations on earth.

The top 21 most-generous countries, in order, are:

1. Australia
1. New Zealand
3. Ireland
3. Canada
5. Switzerland
5. United States
7. Netherlands
8. United Kingdom
8. Sri Lanka
10 Austria
11. Lao People’s Democratic Republic
11. Sierra Leone
13. Malta
14. Iceland
14. Turkmenistan
16. Guyana
16. Qatar
18. Hong Kong
18. Germany
18. Denmark
18. Guinea

Gallup’s analysis of the data found that giving money is more strongly correlated with happiness than with a nation’s gross domestic product. ”
“It would be reasonable to conclude that giving is more an emotional act than a rational one,” the report says.
Among the other findings, age and gender affected generous behaviors. Globally, giving money to charity increases with age, largely explained by changes in disposable income. Women are generally more likely to give than men, but only just barely – 30 percent versus 29 percent.
Click on the title above to access the full report.

Paradox Of Choice

If you can get past this guy's outfit, you'll find this to be a very relevant and intriguing presentation.

Plagarism? Keep Your Shirt On!!!

The viral nature of plagarism at the collegiate and high school levels has relegated the educator to performing detective work. More frequently than ever, students will construct assignments from existing passages cutting and pasting their way to what many perceive as a legitimate outcome. Education has become training where you get from point A to B as efficiently as possible, with little regard for development of the mind. Studies have proven the detrimental effects of cheating as a strategy and it doesn't bode well for the quality of our future leaders.

There's No Such Thing As Free

You can save money by cancelling your cable and DVR subscriptions because you've heard that many of your favorite programs are "free" on hulu.com or clicker.com. But are they truly "free" when you consider the time spent searching for those episodes? An economist would say you always pay one way or another.

The Economics Of Obesity

Should the government give away free Krispy Kreme doughnuts and cigarettes as a cost saving measure? If people don't reach retirement missing out on Social Security and Medicare, does that leave more for the rest of us? This article contains a fascinating interview evaluating the costs of our modern lifestyle. Though obesity is expanding rapidly, the average American has lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels than our more physically taxed ancestors. The market has contributed to our unhealthy existence and is profiting by developing responses. Brilliant.

Leno And Incentives

1. Comedian Jay Leno takes his show to Michigan to help "not just the autoworkers -- anybody out of work in Detroit."

2. He gives away tickets for free.

3. Someone tries to sell his ticket on ebay.

4. Mr Leno objects.

So I wonder: If a person down on his luck prefers the cash to the opportunity to watch Leno live, why would Leno object? Is it altruism that is really motivating Leno here? Is he really sure that the unemployed person in Detroit would be better off with an evening of laughs than $800 in his pocket? Or does Leno want to play to a live audience of unemployed workers so he will seem altruistic to his television audience?

Absent externalities, markets improve the allocation of resources. Both the buyer and the seller of the ticket must be better off: otherwise they would not engage in the transaction. The only significant negative externality that I can see here falls on Mr Leno himself. In other words, Leno's objection to the ebay sale is an understandable and fundamentally self-interested act in that the sale impedes his abilty to appear selfless.

Did he play Detroit to lift the spirits of the unemployed or to elevate his own image?

Your Parents Must Love You!!

In a classic example of marginal thinking, cost/benefit analysis, and opportunity cost data has been recently released revealing a surprising increase in time dedicated to child care during the 1990s. It's interesting for two reasons: first it reversed a trend began in the 1960s of shrinking time parents were dedicating to the rearing of their children and secondly, it occurred in a decade when the value of labor was increasing dramatically. The data seems to indicate that college educated adults were willing to sacrifice their income generating hours at an accelerated pace precisely at the point in which they were most valuable. Click on the link above to access the reason for this lunacy and reflect on the balance of work and parenting during your own childhood.