Research

Nicolas J. Duquette

ABOUT ME
CURRICULUM VITAE
RESEARCH
DATA & CODE

Individual research papers, preprint PDFs, appendices, data files, replication archives and other materials are available below.

Journal Articles

In a lab experiment, subjects' contributions to charity follow a U-shaped curve as a share of their randomly assigned endowments, replicating a real-world empirical oddity.

The U-Shaped Charitable-Giving Curve

with Enda Hargaden

pdf | data | Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, forthcoming

In a laboratory setting, increasing inequality reduces giving to a real charity.

Inequality and Giving

with Enda Hargaden

pdf | published | data | Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 2021, 186

Over 1960-2012, the share of charitable giving done by those who give the most increased substantially.

The Evolving Distribution of Giving in the United States

pdf | published | data | Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 2021, 50(5)

The income tax deduction for charitable contributions is historically intertwined with the behavior of high-wealth philanthropists. Founders’ Fortunes and Philanthropy: A History of the US Charitable Contribution Deduction pdf | published | Vox | blog | Business History Review, 2019, 93(3)

Limits on the share of income donors may deduct on their tax returns reduce giving. Do Share-of-Income Limits on Tax-Deductibility of Charitable Contributions Affect Giving? pdf | published | Economics Letters, 2019, 174

There is a negative relationship between income inequality and high-income philanthropy in historical data.

Inequality and Philanthropy: High-Income Giving in the United States 1917-2012

pdf | published | more | Explorations in Economic History, 2018, 70

Firms with corporate charitable foundations increased shareholder distributions relatively slowly after a dividend tax cut because of managerial entrenchment.

Corporate Charitable Foundations, Executive Entrenchment, and Shareholder Distributions

with Eric Ohrn

pdf | published | blog | Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 2018, 152

Charitable contributions are volatile and charities tend to smooth changes in donation revenue over long periods.

Spend or Save? Nonprofits’ Use of Donations and Other Revenues

pdf | published | more | Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 2017, 46(6)

Charity-level tax elasticities estimated from an exogenous shock to state-varying average tax incentives are substantially larger than common estimates of individual-level responses.

Do Tax Incentives Affect Charitable Contributions? Evidence from Public Charities’ Reported Revenues

pdf | published | more | Journal of Public Economics, 2016, 137

Contrary to popular belief, Lyndon Johnson’s War on Poverty primarily directed its funding toward fighting poverty; very little variation in spending geography can be explained by politics.

How Johnson Fought the War on Poverty: The Politics and Economics of Funding at the Office of Economic Opportunity

with Martha J. Bailey

pdf | published | more | The Journal of Economic History 2014, 74(2)

Measures of ship crowding on the Middle Passage are distorted by errors in reported ship tonnage. Certain early, British voyages were overcrowded to the point of danger.

Ship Crowding and Slave Mortality: Missing Observations or Incorrect Measurement?

with Peter M. Solar

pdf | published | Journal of Economic History 2017, 77(4)

Multiple imputation of incomplete slave trading records reveals that the relationship between ship crowding and slave mortality was positive and substantial (though see followup paper with Peter Solar above).

Revealing the Relationship between Ship Crowding and Slave Mortality: The Role of Missing Data

pdf | published | appendix | The Journal of Economic History, 2014, 74(2)

Working Papers

Wealth shocks have surprisingly small causal effects on household charitable giving.

Wealth Shocks Don't Affect Charitable Giving Much

pdf | ssrn | January 2024

Using a hand-collected panel of state income tax credits for charitable contributions, we find no relationship between such incentives and household giving behavior.

The Extent and Efficacy of State Charitable Contribution Income Tax Credits

with Alexandra Graddy-Reed and Mark Phillips

pdf | September 2018

Other Research

US giving has grown more concentrated among donors but not among charities over time. Thus charities are increasingly dependent on major gifts. Who gives and who gets? Tax policy and the long-run distribution of philanthropy in the US with Jennifer Mayo pdf | published | Routledge Handbook of Taxation and Philanthropy, 2022

An above-the-line credit for charitable giving with a higher subsidy rate above two percent of AGI given would increase charitable contributions efficiently. A Two-Tiered Charitable Contribution Credit For All American Taxpayers pdf | published | Nonprofit Policy Forum, December 2020, 11(4)

A survey experiment exposes treatment groups to four messages supporting future vaccination against COVID-19. Non-white or Hispanic respondents’ intention to vaccinate is over 50% higher in response to a message emphasizing the safety of others. Heard immunity: effective persuasion for a future COVID-19 vaccine pdf | published | Covid Economics, October 2020, 52