POLITICAL ECONOMY: Professor Andrew Kosenko (Marist University)

Charitable Giving in Wartime: Evidence from Ukraine’s War Fundraising

We analyze how military events, casualties, and media coverage influence same-day donations to a major Ukrainian nonprofit supporting the military during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In a unique setting, we exploit random variation in attacks on civilians across time to estimate that one additional civilian fatality causes between $4,860 and $6,992 in same-day donations, and leads to at least $15,550 in cumulative donations. Disentangling the effects of events and media coverage, we estimate that a 1% increase in media mentions of military activity leads to a $2,584 increase in same day donations and an $8,121 increase in cumulative donations.