The Productivity of Volunteer Labour: DEA-Based Evidence from Italy

Sergio Destefanis and Ornella Maietta

Chapter Chapter 9 in Paid and Unpaid Labour in the Social Economy, 2009, pp 143-164 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract This paper analyzes the relatively novel concept of a downward-sloping demand for volunteer labour, using data from the Italian social services sector. Both descriptive and econometric evidence shows that the price of volunteer labour (proxied by its shadow price obtained through DEA) is negatively related to the number of volunteer hours. Furthermore, the demand for volunteer labour is higher in areas relatively well endowed with social capital, where there is also evidence that organizations refrain from substituting volunteers for paid workers when the latter become more expensive. According to our results, the productivity of voluntary labour is higher in social capital-rich regions, where more motivated and skilful volunteers are drawn from a relatively larger pool.

Keywords: Human Capital; Nonprofit Organization; Marginal Productivity; Demand Curve; Shadow Price (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009
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DOI: 10.1007/978-3-7908-2137-6_9

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