Is Volunteering Rewarding in Itself?

Volunteering constitutes one of the most important pro-social activities. FollowingAristotle, helping others is the way to higher individual well-being. This view contrasts with theselfish utility maximizer who avoids costs from helping others. The two rival views are studiedempirically. We find robust evidence that volunteers are more satisfied with their life than nonvolunteers.The issue of causality is studied based on the collapse of East Germany and itsinfrastructure of volunteering. People who lost their opportunities for volunteering are compared topeople who experienced no change in their volunteer status.