The Donation of the Extremely Wealthy in China

Abstract

As trends in increasing private wealth around the world continue, understanding the charitable contributions of the extremely wealthy is important. Using the Forbes China Rich Lists and the Forbes China Charity Lists from 2013 to 2017, this study examines the social and economic factors present in the donations of the extremely wealthy whose net worth equals at least 649 million (all amounts expressed in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted) in China. The results indicate that net worth, social status, political connection, and source of wealth are important factors in these donations. Specifically, extremely wealthy individuals with high net worth, social status, and political connections are more likely to be and more frequently on the Charity Lists than extremely wealthy individuals without above characteristics, particularly those in the real estate industry. However, the real estate industry’s effect on the dollar amount of donations is not significant. In contrast, the extremely wealthy individuals in professional, scientific, and technical areas donated significantly more money than their counterparts in other areas.