Volunteering and Income – The Fallacy of the Good Samaritan?

Economists usually assume positively sloped labour supply curves with reservation wages different from zero. In contrast to this view a considerable amount of labour is offered without monetary compensation in return throughout the economy. Neighbourly help or other unpaid help for friends are good examples for the social phenomenon that people donate time and effort in the absence of monetary rewards. Moreover, there is a significant percentage of people who offer voluntary work in numerous organisations worldwide. Important fields of volunteering comprise social and health services, education and youth work, culture and recreation, rescue organisations, politics, environmental and religious services. Undoubtedly, volunteering contributes significantly to the economy’s welfare that would otherwise require paid resources. The share of the population offering formal voluntary labour varies strongly across countries (Table 1). Sweden exhibits the highest participation rate in Europewith a share of 59percent of all employed peoplewho supply voluntary labour. It is followed by Slovakia (55 percent) with a participation rate above 0.50.Denmark,Greece,GreatBritainandTheNetherlands showparticipation rates between 0.41 and 0.49. Italy, Luxembourg, Iceland, Malta, Slovenia, Austria, Czech Republic, Ireland, Belgium and Finland have values between 0.31 and 0.39. In Germany, Estonia, Spain, Belarus, Northern Ireland, Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania, Latvia and France at least 21 percent of all employed people participate in voluntary labour. The group of countries with the lowest participation rates with values between 0.10 and 0.19 are Turkey, Russia, Ukraine, Hungary, Poland and Lithuania. In the United States participation rates are stable around 0.30 in recent years (Bureau of Labor Statistics 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005). The important role of voluntary activities for KYKLOS, Vol. 60 – 2007 – No. 1, 77–104