Recently,
Lecturer Yang Yongzheng of the School of Public Administration and Policy,
Renmin University of China (RUC) published an article entitled “A systematic
review and meta-analysis of the relationship between economic inequality and
prosocial behavior” on Nature Human Behaviour. Another author is Sara
Konrath, Associate Professor of Indiana University, *.
Abstract
How
does economic inequality relate to prosocial behaviour? Existing theories and
empirical studies from multiple disciplines have produced mixed results. Here
we conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis to systematically synthesize
empirical studies. Results from 192 effect sizes and over 2.5 million
observations in 100 studies show that the relationship varies from being
negative to positive depending upon the study (95% prediction interval −0.450
to 0.343). However, on average, there is a small, negative relationship between
economic inequality and prosocial behaviour (r = −0.064, P = 0.004, 95%
confidence interval −0.106 to −0.021). There is generally no evidence that
results depend upon characteristics of the studies, participants, the way
prosocial behaviour and inequality were assessed, and the publication
discipline. Given the prevalence of economic inequality and the importance of
prosocial behaviour, this systematic review and meta-analysis provides a timely
study on the relationship between economic inequality and prosocial behaviour.
For
more details, please refer to
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-023-01681-y.