The impact of air pollution on crowdfunding donations for critical illnesses: Evidence from China

Abstract

The study explores the relationship between air pollution and individual philanthropic donations, specifically within the context of crowdfunding for critical illnesses. We analyze 113,974 crowdfunding projects for critical illness on Qingsongchou (QSC), China's leading medical crowdfunding platform, from March 22, 2015, to October 1, 2018, to evaluate the influence of air pollution (measured by AQI) on donations for critical illness, with an emphasis on the donors. We find that donation reduces by 2 % for every standard deviation rise in AQI. We attribute this reduction to the psychological and cognitive effects induced by air pollution, since donations for critical illnesses—typically scattered and small-scaled—are more susceptible to these external factors. Using Baidu Index data, we confirm that heightened air pollution increases attention to pollution, triggers negative emotions, and amplifies perceptions of distrust, collectively leading to a decline in crowdfunding donations.