Volunteering and perceived health. A European cross-countries investigation

Fiorillo, Damiano and Nappo, Nunzia (2014): Volunteering and perceived health. A European cross-countries investigation.

Abstract

In this paper, we study the effect of formal and informal volunteering on self-perceived health across 9 European countries after controlling, amongst other things, for socio-economic characteristics, social and cultural participation. We employ the 2006 wave of EU-SILC for estimating recursive trivariate probit models with instrumental variables. Our results show that although formal and informal volunteering are correlated with each other, they have a different impact on health. Formal volunteering has a significant positive effect on self-perceived health in the Netherlands, but none in other countries. By contrast, informal volunteering has a significant negative effect on self-perceived health in Austria, Finland, France, the Netherlands, Spain, and Italy.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Self-perceived health, formal and informal volunteering, social and cultural participation, recursive trivariate probit model, European countries
• Subjects: C - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods > C3 - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models ; Multiple Variables; D - Microeconomics > D6 - Welfare Economics > D64 - Altruism ; Philanthropy; I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I1 - Health; P - Economic Systems > P5 - Comparative Economic Systems; Z - Other Special Topics > Z1 - Cultural Economics ; Economic Sociology ; Economic Anthropology > Z10 - General

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