Working for Nothing: The Supply of Volunteer Labor

Richard Freeman

Scholarly Articles from Harvard University Department of Economics

Abstract: Volunteer activity is work performed without monetary recompense. This article shows that volunteering is a sizeable economic activity in the United States, that volunteers have high skills and opportunity costs of time, that standard labor supply explanations of volunteering account for only a minor part of volunteer behavior, and that many volunteer only when requested to do so. This suggests that volunteering is a "conscience good or activity"-something that people feel morally obligated to do when asked, but which they would just as soon let someone else do.

Date: 1997
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Published in Journal of Labor Economics

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Related works:
Journal Article: Working for Nothing: The Supply of Volunteer Labor (1997)
Working Paper: Working for Nothing: The Supply of Volunteer Labor (1996)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hrv:faseco:4632239

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