Overview

Cash Gifts and Cost Minimization

     The topics covered in Managerial Economics do not motivate

   students to be benevolent, but the topics can make the most

  of the time and effort put into benevolence.  I encourage you

 to think of original topics, but as the class progresses, I’ll

suggest some paper topics in class.

You learned in class that, assuming all that matters is the happiness from the objects of your benevolence (say, the happiness of poor families with children at Christmas) and assuming the objects of your benevolence are rational (that is, they use their resources in ways that are best for them), then you should often donate cash to any benevolent foundation, rather than gifts or your labor.  For example, cash can be given directly to poor families with children to buy their own toys (or something they may need even more) or can rent capital for the foundation to work with donated labor. 

So pick a charity (like Toys for Tots) and either document how they used the managerial economic conclusion of the superiority of cash over donated gifts or labor to improve efficiency, or document how some non-quantitative or non-economic elements of their operation or of their donors caused them to violate managerial economic assumptions and so follow different conclusions. 

To explore non-quantitative or non-economic elements of donors, you should read the article

http://faculty.pepperdine.edu/jburke2/giving.pdf

which cites evidence that many donors choose labor over cash because it makes  donors feel better about themselves.