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

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Paid and Unpaid Labour in the Social Economy

Part of the book series: AIEL Series in Labour Economics ((AIEL))

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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.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Pure NPs are at the extreme end of a spectrum including, besides pure forprofit firms at the other end, all the organizations (cooperatives, associations of mutual character) constrained in some way in the distribution of their profits. According to Borzaga (2003), the strength of these constraints allies such organizations to NPs.

  2. 2.

    A complete introduction to DEA is given in Cooper et al. (2000).

  3. 3.

    Formally, an output-oriented model can be set up, and output-increasing efficiency measures obtained. However, in the present context we need be interested only in the input-oriented model.

  4. 4.

    In Tables 8.2 and 8.3 we proxy the scale of production with volunteer work-hours. Results using paid work-hours, available upon request, are much the same.

  5. 5.

    In group A, there are 9 nonprofits (on 54) with no volunteers, 10 FPs (on 13), 7 Gs (on 24). In group B, the numbers are 16 nonprofits on 67, 1 FP on 2, and 6 Gs on 26.

  6. 6.

    Actually, the estimates in Tables 8.7 and 8.10 relate to a dummy that interacting wages with Putnam’s areas and nonprofits. Similar results are obtained, however, if the dummy only interacts wages with Putnam’s areas, while a dummy interacting wages with nonprofits only is considerably less significant.

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Acknowledgements

We gratefully acknowledge financial support from the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research (PRIN 2005) and from the DISES, University of Salerno.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Economics and Statistics and CELPE, University of Salerno, Via Ponte Don Melillo, 84084, Fisciano (SA), Italy

    Sergio Destefanis

  2. Department of Agricultural Economics and Policy, University of Napoli Federico II and Centro per la Formazione in Economia e Politica dello Sviluppo Rurale, Via Universitá 96, 80055, Portici (NA), Italy

    Ornella Wanda Maietta

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  1. Sergio Destefanis
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  2. Ornella Wanda Maietta
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    © 2009 Physica-Verlag Heidelberg

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    Destefanis, S., Maietta, O.W. (2009). The Productivity of Volunteer Labour: DEA-Based Evidence from Italy. In: Musella, M., Destefanis, S. (eds) Paid and Unpaid Labour in the Social Economy. AIEL Series in Labour Economics. Physica, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-7908-2137-6_9

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