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Volunteering and life or financial shocks: does income and wealth matter?

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  • Tony Beatton
  • Benno Torgler

Abstract

Volunteering is a dominant social force that signals a healthy state. However, although the literature on volunteering is extensive, knowledge on how life’s discontinuities (life and financial shocks) affect volunteering is limited because most studies work with static (cross-sectional) data. To reduce this shortcoming, we use longitudinal data from Australia (HILDA) that track the same individuals over time to assess how individuals from different income and wealth groups respond to life and financial shocks with respect to volunteering. Although both income and wealth can act as buffers against life shocks by providing stability and reducing vulnerability – which decreases the need to actually change behaviour patterns – we observe more heterogeneity than expected and also stickiness at the lowest income levels. Response delays in post-shock volunteering also suggest that volunteering habits may be driven and influenced by strong commitment and motivation that are not shattered by life or financial shocks. In fact, the amount of time spent volunteering tends to increase after negative income shocks and decrease after positive income shocks.

Suggested Citation

  • Tony Beatton & Benno Torgler, 2018. "Volunteering and life or financial shocks: does income and wealth matter?," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(19), pages 2190-2209, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:applec:v:50:y:2018:i:19:p:2190-2209
    DOI: 10.1080/00036846.2017.1392003
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    Cited by:

    1. Noemi Mantovan & Robert M. Sauer & John Wilson, 2022. "The effect of work‐schedule control on volunteering among early career employees," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 60(3), pages 536-562, September.
    2. Benno Torgler, 2021. "Behavioral Taxation: Opportunities and Challenges," CREMA Working Paper Series 2021-25, Center for Research in Economics, Management and the Arts (CREMA).
    3. Joan Costa-Font & Nicolo Gatti & Gilberto Turati & Daniel Wiesen, 2025. "A prosocial legacy of COVID-19 among healthcare professionals?," DISCE - Working Papers del Dipartimento di Economia e Finanza def145, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Dipartimenti e Istituti di Scienze Economiche (DISCE).
    4. Umberto Maggio & Giuseppe Notarstefano & Giuseppe Terzo, 2025. "Income inequality in Italian regions: an empirical study on the mitigating role of organisation-based volunteering," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 74(2), pages 1-25, June.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D64 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Altruism; Philanthropy; Intergenerational Transfers
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply
    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification
    • N37 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - Africa; Oceania

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