A Century of Work and Leisure / Valerie A. Ramey, Neville Francis.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Ramey, Valerie A.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Francis, Neville.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w12264.

NBER working paper series no. w12264

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2006.

Summary:

Has leisure increased over the last century? Standard measures of hours worked suggest that it has. In this paper, we develop a comprehensive measure of non-leisure hours that includes market work, home production, commuting and schooling for the last 105 years. We also present empirical and theoretical arguments for a definition of "per capita" that encompasses the entire population. The new measures reveal a number of interesting 20th Century trends. First, 70 percent of the decline in hours worked has been offset by an increase in hours spent in school. Second, contrary to conventional wisdom, average hours spent in home production are actually slightly higher now than they were in the early part of the 20th Century. Finally, leisure per capita is approximately the same now as it was in 1900.

Notes:

Print version record

May 2006.