Qualitative and Quantitative Differences Between Passive and Aggressive Panhandlers

How Much Do They Make? A Systematic Review of Income Generated From Begging

“…Goldstein (1993) distinguished the income among the less capable earning <95.83 USD, the regular panhandlers earning 190–480 USD, and the high-earning panhandlers making >575 USD per week. The range and standard deviations were substantial for monthly income from panhandling (e.g., Conroy, 2001; Wamstad, 2007; Zlotnick & Robertson, 1996), but low figures were USD 10–$50 (Conroy, 2001; Rossi et al, 1986, as cited in Stark, 1992; Zlotnick & Robertson, 1996), and panhandlers could make USD 280–$400 (Lee & Farrell, 2003, North & Pollio, 2017; Smith, 2005; Wamstad, 2007) per month on average. Quarterly income and annual income from panhandling were found to be between USD 660 and 720 (Ropers, 1988, as cited in D.…”

“…Unpublished academic sources such as theses and dissertations were searched (Bowling, 2018; Gaga, 2015; Reinhard, 2017; D. B. Taylor, 1999; Tladi, 2017; Wamstad, 2007). Additionally, secondary sources were included such as Ropers (1988, as cited in D.…”

“…For example, the inclusion of some sources without clear sample sizes (e.g.,Rahmalia & Zulyadi, 2019) prevents the use of a weighting scheme based on their sample size when making comparisons between studies. Because of the wide range of incomes that some panhandlers receive (Conroy, 2001; Goldstein, 1993; Luckenbach & Acosta, 1993; Wamstad, 2007), sources that rely on small samples are susceptible to having extreme values compared to studies that report average values among larger samples (e.g., Bose & Hwang, 2003; Lee & Farrell, 2003; Lein et al, 2008). Similarly, considerable variation exists regarding how income is reported with some studies providing a range (Goldberg, 1995; Jamil et al, 2019), varying measures of central tendency (Bose & Hwang, 2003; Conroy, 2001; Lee & Farrell, 2003), or as an ordinal variable (Malik & Roy, 2012; Mansour, 2017).…”

“…The activity is also often categorized as passive or aggressive, terms that address the manner in which the request is made and general context of the situation (Scott, 2003; D. B. Taylor, 1999; Wamstad, 2007). Aggressive panhandling may be threatening and demanding, akin to robbery.…”

“…73–74). Studies also report conflicting results about whether individuals would rather work a minimum wage job than panhandle (Goldstein, 1993; Lein et al, 2008; Wamstad, 2007).…”