People donate time rather than money says survey
A new study claims that people would rather give up their time than their money to charitable causes.
Traditionally it is believed that consumers value their time above their money, but the new report by Stockholm School Economics says that the reverse is true.
One in three people would give up their time to help someone else and not ask for monetary compensation, whereas almost every respondent would expect a financial reward from a monetary investment.
'Except for donations to charities and other gifts from the relatively rich to the relatively poor, generosity is largely expressed by non–monetary means,' said Professor Tore Ellingsen.
He said that charities were often puzzled by people's willingness to donate their time. Yet the charity would often be better off if the person worked the equivalent hous and donated their pay instead, even after tax.
Professor Ellingsen explained that the trend could be due to social 'norms' which make people believe that they should be careful with their money and give more time.
'We are supposed to share our time more willingly than our cash, in the same way as social norms make us vote and give blood,' added Professor Ellingsen.
The paper will be presented at the 2005 World Congress of the Econometric Society. | 
