TOILET CLEANING AND DEPARTMENT CHAIRING - VOLUNTEERING A PUBLIC-SERVICE

Who will do a job that nobody wants but that someone has to do? The se arch for a volunteer is modelled as a war of attrition in which everyo ne is tempted to just wait for someone else to do it. We show that the volunteer will be, ceteris paribus, the individual for whom the benef it/cost ratio of performing the public service is largest, the one mos t impatient to consume it, or the one who stands to benefit from it th e longest.