Score contribution per author:
α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count
This article estimates the economic and noneconomic returns to volunteering for prime‐aged women. Estimates of a DCDP model indicate that an extra year of volunteer experience increases wage offers by 8.5% in future part‐time work and by 2.6% in future full‐time work. On average, working for free increases lifetime earnings by 16.7%. The economic returns to volunteering are more important than the noneconomic returns in increasing lifetime utility. The model also reveals an adverse selection mechanism into volunteering that helps explain why reduced‐form regressions of the returns to working for free will likely be downward biased.