Aid and comfort

Charity: When it comes to giving, Americans are not so ugly after all | Rusty Leonard and Warren Cole Smith

The myth of the "ugly American" has become so pervasive that it has become a stereotype: loud, loutish, and selfish.

The truth is very different, at least when it comes to charitable giving. Americans are the most generous people on the planet, and they mostly don't toot their own horns about it.

A new study by the Hudson Institute's Center for Global Prosperity says that Americans account for 45 percent of all philanthropic giving worldwide. Not only is that significantly more than any other nation on earth, it's also dramatically more on a per capita basis. One example: The average American gives 14 times more to charity than the average Italian.

The results of the study do not surprise Arthur C. Brooks, a fellow at the Hudson Institute and the author of Gross National Happiness, a book that says there is a strong link between philanthropy, economic freedom, and happiness (see "Building the skyscraper down," May 17/24).

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