TY - JOUR
T1 - Competition among volunteers
AU - Cugno, Franco
AU - Ferrero, Mario
PY - 2004/9
Y1 - 2004/9
N2 - Volunteer labor is analyzed as a selfish, rational investment activity that people undertake to compete for rents, or prizes, auctioned off by a nonmarket, output-maximizing organization. The model is located at the intersection of the tournament and rent-seeking literatures and proves that, with identical risk-neutral individuals, only two prizes, and free entry, the organization will find it optimal to set the bottom prize at zero and thus promote a volunteer contest. A broad range of real-world examples is shown to fit well with the model.
AB - Volunteer labor is analyzed as a selfish, rational investment activity that people undertake to compete for rents, or prizes, auctioned off by a nonmarket, output-maximizing organization. The model is located at the intersection of the tournament and rent-seeking literatures and proves that, with identical risk-neutral individuals, only two prizes, and free entry, the organization will find it optimal to set the bottom prize at zero and thus promote a volunteer contest. A broad range of real-world examples is shown to fit well with the model.
KW - Contests
KW - Nonmarket organizations
KW - Rent seeking
KW - Volunteer labor
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=4344605040&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.ejpoleco.2003.10.009
DO - 10.1016/j.ejpoleco.2003.10.009
M3 - Article
SN - 0176-2680
VL - 20
SP - 637
EP - 654
JO - European Journal of Political Economy
JF - European Journal of Political Economy
IS - 3
ER -