Does it Pay to Work for Free? Negative Selection and the Wage Returns to Volunteer Experience
Journal
Oxford Bulletin of Economics & Statistics
ISSN
0305-9049
ISSN-Digital
1468-0084
Type
forthcoming
Date Issued
2017-05-02
Author(s)
Abstract
This paper offers the first instrumental variables estimates of the wage returns to volunteer experience. The returns are substantial and differ considerably by gender. The results imply that the unequal valuation of volunteer experience by gender is more important in explaining the gender earnings gap than is the unequal valuation of part-time paid work experience. The results also indicate negative selection into unpaid work. In a simple model of optimal volunteering, negative selection implies that a lower cost of volunteering would produce both an expanded and higher-skilled pool of volunteers, and greater societal benefits from volunteer work.
Language
English
HSG Classification
contribution to scientific community
HSG Profile Area
SEPS - Economic Policy
Publisher
Wiley-Blackwell
Publisher place
Oxford
Volume
online
Subject(s)
Eprints ID
250664
File(s)![Thumbnail Image]()
open.access
Name
32[1].html
Size
28.74 KB
Format
HTML
Checksum (MD5)
a67252eeb34daeb2c92bca995539890a