Working for Nothing: The Supply of Volunteer Labor / Richard B. Freeman.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Freeman, Richard B.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w5435.

NBER working paper series no. w5435

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Voluntarism--United States.

Voluntarism.

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Other Title:

Working for Nothing

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 1996.

Cambridge, Massachussatts : National Bureau of Economic Research, [1996]

Summary:

Volunteer activity is work performed without monetary recompense. This paper shows that volunteering is a sizeable economic activity in the U.S.; 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.

Notes:

Print version record

January 1996.