Charitable giving is an enduring and attractive theme in various disciplines. For classical economists, it is one of anomalies because homo economicus would not make a donation. For behavioral economists, it is one of the best opportunities that they can "nudge" a certain behavior. (For those who would like to apply behavioral economics to charitable giving, I recommend this document by The Behavioral Insight Team. More recently, this article in Stanford Social Innovation Review was highly suggestive) Public economists often view charitable giving as a subject of policy research such as tax deduction. This book contains a comprehensive review of philanthropy from public economics viewpoint by Dr. James Andreoni.
For sociologists, philanthropy and charity are important social act that can be affected by social norms and settings. At the same time, it consequently affects a society by providing social benefits. (I found this article by Dr. Emily Barman that describes contributions of sociologists in philanthropic studies)
Of course, psychologists have contributed our understanding of charitable giving through extensive research on altruism and pro-social behavior.
For practitioners in nonprofit organizations, charitable giving is an important resource of their activity. Based on this fact, nonprofit management scholars also have tried to understand the factors that drive charitable giving. Marketing scientists have also studied this theme such as Cause Related Marketing (CRM) as a part of consumer research. Decision scientists contribute in this field too. In addition, effective philanthropy, venture philanthropy, and social impact studies are making this field more exciting.
Scholars who study law and tax have also contributed in this field by investigating in regulation of fundraising, bequests, tax deduction, gift of securities or land, and so forth.
Finally, I would like to emphasize the future possibility of charitable / philanthropic research in developing countries. Current literature on charitable / philanthropic giving is mainly from developed countries. However, as charity culture grows in developing countries, more needs for marketing studies that focus on each country. Since charitable / philanthropic behavior is affected by social norms and settings, native scholars in each country have more opportunity to conduct effective research on this theme.
Multi-disciplinary, deep and broad, and socially important in future society.
I am completely fascinated by charitable / philanthropic research.
寄付というテーマは、経済学（行動経済学、公共経済学）、心理学、社会学、経営学（マーケティング、意思決定論）、法学、非営利組織研究などにまたがる領域であり、寄付文化の成熟に伴って途上国でも重要性が高まってくる非常に有望なテーマです。
この学問的なおもしろさは、もっと多くの研究者・学生の方々に知っていただきたい・・・！！
まだ見ぬ本ブログ読者の皆様と議論できるのを、楽しみにしています。