If You’re Thinking of Soliciting Donations in Bulgaria…

People living in cultures that are more accepting of inequality in power or wealth are less likely to donate money to charitable causes or help the needy, according to research by Karen Page Winterich of Pennsylvania State University and Yinlong Zhang of the University of Texas at San Antonio. The finding may help explain why the most generous countries—Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, and the United States—have relatively low scores on a measure of inequality acceptance, while the least generous—Bulgaria, China, India, Russia, and Serbia—score higher. Acceptance of inequality may reduce people’s perceived responsibility to aid others, the researchers say.