"This is largely because people give away money stupidly" But is that an accident of history (people care more about making money than about giving it away?) o

"This is largely because people give away money stupidly" But is that an accident of history (people care more about making money than about giving it away?) or a characteristic of charity? From what I've read, less than 1% of the increase in standards of living during the last 200 years can be attributed to charity. Given the number of fortunes that are charitably disposed of, giving money away rather than investing it is akin to making your target group worse off so you can feel better about yourself; it's selfish and destructive, and but for a trick of language, it would be blatantly uncharitable. See also: http://slate.com/id/2110817/ http://slate.com/id/2110817/