Economics with a Heart

Or should that be charity with a brain?

• Do economists not "consider the value of community?" (Economist Blog)
• Are the poor actually different? (Economist Blog)
• Charity and Fraud. According to some estimates, fraud accounts for up to 13% of philanthropic giving. (New York Times, H/T Freakonomics Blog) [Not sure I agree with the methodology, but I do think it's something that most people don't pay enough attention to.]
• For those who worry about the rich getting richer and being an old boys network, apparently social networks might not matter so much - at least for the Freemasons. (Paul Kedrosky)
  
• Venture capitalist philanthropy (Enterprise Resilience Management Blog) [The better way to poverty alleviation? Profit seeking and poverty alleviation can be highly complementary in market based economies.]