Secret Sins of Liberal Bloggers

SCL Blogger Matt Yglesias repeats what apparently is a common misconception perpetuated by this Catalogue For Philanthropy um, thing. This chart reproduces the Red/ Blue division that Yglesias talks about (with Iowa, Ohio, Virginia, Arizona, Nevada, and Colorado being the only red states ranked below blue states) and the 49 Massachusetts ranking commenter DaveMB refers to.

Unfortunately they use a very odd computation that doesn’t measure what it purports to measure. They rank according to their “Generosity Index” which takes the difference between their rank in per capita income and their rank in “Giving”. Let alone the problem of a skewed income distribution, the real problem is their flawed “Giving” data. The “Giving” data is computed by taking the average charitable contribution claims per return making such a claim. That is, they divide the amount of charitable giving claimed by the number of returns taking a charitable deduction. The ranking could easily be skewed by the income inequality -a few wealthy individuals donating a large amount, but everybody else being too poor to make a charitable deduction.

In fact, when income and charitable giving is measured per 2001 household rather than per tax return making a claim, the new ranking (in terms giving per dollar of income) puts two blue states in the top ten for giving and five red states in the bottom ten. Massachusetts comes in just outside the bottom ten (ranked 40). The ranking, from least to most charitable, is:

West Virginia
New Hampshire
North Dakota
South Dakota
Maine
Alaska
Rhode Island
Wisconsin
New Mexico
Vermont
Massachusetts
Pennsylvania
Washington
Connecticut
Iowa
Ohio
Hawaii
Louisiana
Nevada
Indiana
Texas
New Jersey
Illinois
Missouri
Florida
Kentucky
Montana
Michigan
Delaware
Kansas
Arizona
Colorado
Minnesota
Virginia
California
Nebraska
Oregon
Wyoming
Tennessee
Arkansas
New York
Mississippi
Idaho
North Carolina
Maryland
Oklahoma
South Carolina
Alabama
Georgia
Utah

UPDATE:

I just discovered how easy Excel is to use.

I ran the numbers and found out that Blue States actually claimed charitable contributions of $1,431 per 2001 blue state household compared to $1,199 claimed charitable contributions from red state households.