Charitable misgiving: The modern billionaire philanthropist 

Recently, and somewhat quietly, 93-year-old Ruth Gottsman said: billion dollar gift to Einstein College of Medicine in New York City. The purpose of this gift was to make medical school forever free to medical students. Surprisingly, this gift had few strings attached, other than the mission. No request was made to change the name of the school and exchange gifts (not unusual for such gifts).

Not a good time to be a billionaire. I don’t think accumulating wealth will lead to happiness.

person who is considered a billionaire donald trump It may materialize soon There is a saying: “A fool and his money are soon parted.” For some, escalating adventures lead to tragic deaths, as in the case of billionaires Hamish Harding and Shahzada Dawood. inside the submarineor car racing crash like james crown. Simply put, we were exposed to certain possibilities. fist fight Between billionaires Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg. The cage match was eventually called off after Zuckerberg slammed Elon Musk. “You’re wasting your time.”

As you might imagine, billionaires have dangerous hobbies. Fighting narcissismBut perhaps underlying these activities is a search for meaning. It would be a mistake not to realize that billionaires are people too, and their thoughts and aspirations may be the same as the average person.

To gain a deeper perspective, it is useful to understand the archetypal billionaire, John D. Rockefeller.

Rockefeller was not a nice person. His $100 idea for fractional distillation of kerosene greatest luck One person has accumulated so far. In the process, his greedy and cutthroat business practices created the modern monopoly. His company, Standard Oil, was eventually dissolved by the United States Supreme Court. Sherman Antitrust Act in Standard Oil Company of New Jersey v. United States (1911). As a result, the 34 individual companiessome of these are still very powerful and wealthy.

But Rockefeller did something even more unusual than it might seem at first glance. For reasons unknown, he began donating his own money.

By the time he died, he had given something. $540 million Before his death in 1937 at the age of 97, his net worth (not adjusted for inflation) was estimated to be: $1.4 billion ($30 billion adjusted for current inflation). This donation represents approximately 33% of his total assets. In doing so, he created modern philanthropy that resulted in the creation of two of the world’s leading research universities, lifted the American South out of chronic poverty, and greatly improved educational opportunities for countless African Americans. strengthened the world, stimulated and specialized medical research, and dramatically improved health conditions around the world.

We should be impressed by this. There is no doubt that this redistribution of capital has helped. But the real question is not why he gave up his 33 percent of his fortune, but why he didn’t give up 99 percent.

Assuming Rockefeller gave away 99 percent of his wealth, he would be left with $14 million. In today’s dollars, this translates to approximately $300 million.To understand Rockefeller’s world, the average American salary in 1935 was $471 per year.

It would take the average American worker at the time 30,000 years to earn $14 million. The average nice house in the 1930s cost $6,000. With $14 million, Rockefeller could have purchased 2,333 homes. 1935 Deluxe Ford Touring Sedan Prices $655. Rockefeller may have selected 21,347 such cars.

Remember, Rockefeller didn’t give away 99 percent of his wealth, he only gave away 33 percent. Recalculating what he can do with his money, the average worker needs 2 million years of work, the number of homes purchased is now 154,000, and the number of purchased Deluxe Ford Touring cars is now 154,000. The number of sedans he will be 1.5 million units.

Mathematics is difficult, even for millionaires. When the human brain counts, it counts as 1, 2, 3, 4, and many. Research in behavioral economics takes pains to categorize our psychological relationships into gains and losses.

Psychologists Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky won the Nobel Prize for a seemingly simple idea they called prospect theory. It states, “Loss hurts more than it feels good to gain.” Kahneman and Tversky “Loss aversion”. In this way of thinking, losing money, whether it’s $100 million or $500 million, is far more painful than the joy of finding the same amount.

Additionally, a 10 percent loss feels the same whether it’s 10 percent of $100 or 10 percent of $1 billion.This is because most billionaires don’t give away their money even though they can give away billions of dollars without affecting their standard of living and still have plenty of money left over. may explain why they are surprisingly stingy in launch a rocket Or you could die in a small submarine.

But if billionaires are just people with common vanities, fears, and anxieties about money, how can we explain billionaire Mackenzie Scott’s extraordinary actions?

According to reports, Scott’s philanthropy is occurring at a faster pace than any other person in human history.she gave in Over $16 billion Of her original $40 billion, it represents 41 percent of her total assets. This puts her above Rockefeller in total percentage and definitely speed.

In 2019, Scott divorced Amazon owner Jeff Bezos in a cash settlement that left her alone. 3rd richest woman in the world. That same year, Scott signed a non-binding agreement. “I will submit a written oath.” It’s a charity campaign with the mission of having her donate most of her wealth during her lifetime or in her will. There is no doubt that hundreds of groups would be happy to receive Scott’s donation. Not all billionaires are impressed with Scott’s plan.

Elon Musk accused Scott of ad hominem And said, “Ex-wives of super rich people who hate their ex-spouse” “This should be listed as one of the reasons why Western civilization died.” Mr. Musk has a point, but it’s probably not what he had in mind. Why do we allow so much wealth to accumulate in the hands of so few people in the first place?

There are more billionaires today than ever before, and therefore more philanthropists. Billions of dollars are donated each year; Inequality continues to grow.barely One-fifth Most of the donations made by generous donors end up in the hands of the poor. It is commonly believed that philanthropy results in the redistribution of money. This is wrong.Many charities end up Pocket of the powerful.

Philanthropy is a statement about power and control and giving large sums of money to others, whether or not it is consistent with what is in the best interest of society. At worst, large-scale philanthropy provides a cover to sanitize a system that allows for the accumulation of unlimited wealth in the hands of a very small number of people. Don’t confuse philanthropy with something someone does in the very modest way of donating their time to a local soup kitchen. Such actions rarely result in naming rights for soup kitchens.

Only time will tell what the future holds for Einstein School of Medicine graduates with Mr. Gottesman’s gift. Will future generations of doctors, freed from the burden of expensive medical school debt, pivot and give more generously to the poor, or will it simply be a faster path to wealth accumulation? ?

Joel Zivot, MD, MA, JM, is an associate professor of anesthesiology and surgery at Emory School of Medicine. He is a former adjunct professor at Emory Law School. He is a senior fellow at the Emory Ethics Center.