Economics and volunteering

Often when the term economics is discussed, the common definition that is presented is the Neo-Classical version. Neo-Classical economics is "an approach to economics that relates supply and demand to an individual's rationality and his or her ability to maximize utility or profit (Neoclassical Economics). Classical economics focuses on the value of a good or service, yet it doesn't include domestic or volunteer work. This paper will specifically focus on volunteering and how it contributes to the economy from a Feminist economics perspective. Feminist economics focuses on qualitative measures such as cooperation instead of competition or flexibility instead of rigidity. Feminist economics will be further discussed in the Review of the Literature section. Several key questions that will be answered in this paper include: What is Feminist Economics? How volunteering can contribute to those that are involved? (In this case, the organization, the volunteers and the participants). The method I used to research the value of volunteering was abstracted from interviews with volunteers, staff members at Camp Kostopulos, and participants. In the results section, it will discuss the value of volunteering (time and patience) compared to the Neo-classical approach of economic (value and utility of staff).