The "holiday spirit," gifts, charity. When does it slip away? That is, what is the threshold to maintain this kernel of altruism wrapped in a cushion of greed and insecurity?

We see in places like Cote d'Ivoire and North Korea a gear and desperation leaving the idea of worrying about anyone else a luxury. I would like to know how charity is viewed in Russia, as it doesn't seem a place where such "soft" feelings would be respected. It is important to delineate between soft and practical, as charity can be an indirect benefit over time.

I have seen economic studies which showed no strong correlations between an education beyond the sixth year and GDP growth. However, if reading and logic and deduction enhance abstraction and long-term thinking, then I posit there is a negative correlation between exposure to the humanities and violence rates.

This not to say things like expectations of material and physical needs meeting aren't big factors, too, which I suspect in the above examples.