Finally, suppose that W is negative. In that case, Ahealth and Afuture ’s initial wealth endowments chealthW and cfutureW will likewise be negative. In other words: Ahealth and Afuture will initially be endowed with debts. Both Ahealth and Afuturewill have to earn enough money – either through working, or through trading with each other – to pay off their initial debts before they can donate any money to charitable causes.
This seems kind of inflexible to me, as a strict rule, rather than a guideline, if that’s the intention. Why shouldn’t they be able to donate? Maybe they expect to earn back more easily in the future and some donation opportunities are pressing now. Furthermore, “donation” is a somewhat artificial category: taking on some kinds of debt could be seen as donations if they will benefit future direct donations or future direct work. Taking on lower paying direct work instead of going for higher paying jobs to pay off the debt faster also seems like a donation.
This seems kind of inflexible to me, as a strict rule, rather than a guideline, if that’s the intention. Why shouldn’t they be able to donate? Maybe they expect to earn back more easily in the future and some donation opportunities are pressing now. Furthermore, “donation” is a somewhat artificial category: taking on some kinds of debt could be seen as donations if they will benefit future direct donations or future direct work. Taking on lower paying direct work instead of going for higher paying jobs to pay off the debt faster also seems like a donation.