Daniel Hungerman
Economics
Stepan Family Associate Professor of Economics
- Public economics
- Religion and the determinants of philanthropic activity
Hungerman’s Latest News
Hungerman in the News
CNBC
With Trump’s tax bill set to dent giving by the wealthy, can middle-class donors make up the difference?
December 01, 2025
Economist Daniel Hungerman said he questions whether the new deduction would spur a substantial number of donations or mainly reward taxpayers who would have given anyway. Trump’s tax bill also permanently raises the standard deduction, which significantly dampens charitable giving, Hungerman said. His study estimated that the higher deduction led to a permanent annual drop of $16 billion after the 2017 reforms.
The Wall Street Journal
Trump Tax Megalaw Upends Charitable Giving
July 30, 2025
Some people who lowered their giving after 2017 are likely to respond by increasing giving now, said Daniel Hungerman, an economist at the University of Notre Dame who co-wrote a paper estimating that the 2017 changes reduced giving by $20 billion annually, or about 4%.
The Conversation
Trump’s ‘big’ bill gives millions of taxpayers a new charitable tax break, but whether it will help nonprofits is unclear
July 14, 2025
By Daniel Hungerman, a professor at the University of Notre Dame and a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research.
The Washington Post
GOP voucher plan would divert billions in taxes to private schools
March 14, 2025
Dan Hungerman, an economics professor and expert on charitable giving at the University of Notre Dame, agreed that this would offer a powerful incentive not seen elsewhere in the tax code.
USA Today
Would you donate more if you could deduct it on your taxes? Congress can help. | Opinion
January 28, 2025
Researchers at Indiana University’s Lilly Family School of Philanthropy and the University of Notre Dame found that in the first year after this tax legislation was enacted, giving dropped by approximately $20 billion. This steep decline in donors and donations threatens the ability of charities and faith-based organizations to provide critical services.
The Conversation
Trump’s tax cuts led to a $20B reduction in charitable giving within a year
September 11, 2024
By Daniel Hungerman, Professor of Economics, University of Notre Dame.
NonProfit PRO
U.S. Charitable Giving Fell About $20B in First Year of Tax Law Change
August 01, 2024
A new study by researchers at Indiana University and the University of Notre Dame finds that U.S. charitable giving fell by about $20 billion in 2018, the first year of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act’s (TCJA) implementation.
Washington Examiner
Trump tax overhaul reduced charitable giving by $20 billion in first year, study finds
July 31, 2024
In a Monday interview with the Washington Examiner, one of the authors, Notre Dame economics professor Daniel Hungerman, said about 1-in-5 households switched from itemizing deductions to taking the standard deduction because of the cuts. “And when you switch … you lose an incentive to give the charity,” he said. “So this is the first study since that reform that tries to evaluate how the reform affected charitable giving.”
Barron's, MSN
The 2017 Trump Tax Law Caused a $20 Billion Drop in Charitable Giving, Study Finds
July 31, 2024
The Trump tax law of 2017 caused 23 million households to stop itemizing their deductions leading to a US$20 billion decline in philanthropic giving, a study by researchers at the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy and the University of Notre Dame found.
The Hechinger Report
Arizona gave families public money for private schools. Then private schools raised tuition
November 27, 2023
Dan Hungerman, an economics professor at the University of Notre Dame who has studied the impact of vouchers on private school finances, noted that the Heritage report’s main finding lacked the common elements of rigorous academic research: statistical significance and standard error.
BBC News
The surprising science of climate protests
April 20, 2023
One study on the first Earth Day, on 22 April 1970, found a long-term impact on air quality in areas that had good weather that day – which researchers used as an estimate for participation in activities. "Our approach was to use weather to essentially mimic an experiment," says Daniel Hungerman.
AEA Research Highlights Podcast
The importance of local activism: Daniel Hungerman discusses the long-run effects of the first Earth Day celebration.
Audio
April 17, 2023
A wave of political demonstrations in recent years has grabbed headlines and helped to reshape the political landscape. But it’s an open question as to whether these protest movements actually change opinions in the long run. In a paper in the American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, authors Daniel Hungerman and Vivek Moorthy found that activism can have a lasting impact on local communities.
The Economist
Places with high religious participation have fewer deaths of despair
February 27, 2023
A new paper by Tyler Giles of Wellesley, Daniel Hungerman of Notre Dame and Tamar Oostrom of Ohio State bolsters the case that deaths of despair stem in part from weakening social ties.
MarketWatch
Rise in middle-aged white ‘deaths of despair’ may be fueled by loss of religion, new research paper argues
January 16, 2023
The working paper, from Tyler Giles of Wellesley College, Daniel Hungerman of the University of Notre Dame, and Tamar Oostrom of The Ohio State University, looked at the relationship between religiosity and mortality from deaths of despair.
Le Monde
"Let's not lose hope, environmental mobilization is effective" (« Ne perdons pas espoir, la mobilisation écologiste est efficace »)
April 13, 2022
Daniel Hungerman and Vivek Moorthy, American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, forthcoming. The authors evaluate the impact of citizen mobilization, during the first Earth Day, April 22, 1970, on local pollution, infant mortality and morbidity, traditional indicators of the effects of pollution. (Daniel Hungerman et Vivek Moorthy, American Economic Journal : Applied Economics, à paraître. Les auteurs évaluent l’impact de la mobilisation citoyenne, lors de la première Journée de la Terre, le 22 avril 1970, sur la pollution locale, la mortalité et la morbidité infantiles, indicateurs traditionnels des effets de la pollution.)