Editorial-"Philanthropy is the voluntary promotion of human welfare. Its Greek origin means “love for humankind.”

Editorial: "Philanthropy is the voluntary promotion of human welfare. Its Greek origin means “love for humankind.”

There are two directions that philanthropy can take. Philanthropy can promote social good, or it can alleviate social distress such as poverty and unemployment. In a prosperous economy that has opportunity for all, philanthropy would not need to help the poor, because there would be full employment at wages well above subsistence. The free market has a natural minimum wage, namely the productivity of the marginal worker, which in a high-tech economy would be lifted up by the insatiable demand for labor. A free society would also provide the schooling that creates the human capital that enables workers to have an even higher wage.

Advocates of government welfare for the poor say that philanthropy is not sufficient to provide a safety net of welfare aid to the poor and unemployed. Governments throughout the word do indeed spend trillions of dollars and pounds and euros to provide medicine, schooling, housing, and food to masses of poor folk. How could philanthropy possibly fill this role?"