How do Hours Worked Vary with Income? Cross-Country Evidence and Implications / Alexander Bick, Nicola Fuchs-Schündeln, David Lagakos.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bick, Alexander.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Fuchs-Schündeln, Nicola.

Lagakos, David.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w21874.

NBER working paper series no. w21874

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2016.

Summary:

This paper builds a new internationally comparable database of hours worked to measure how hours vary with income across and within countries. We document that average hours worked per adult are substantially higher in low-income countries than in high-income countries. The pattern of decreasing hours with income holds for both men and women, for adults of all ages and education levels, and along both the extensive and intensive margin. Within countries, hours worked per employed are also decreasing in the individual wage for most countries, though in the richest countries, hours worked are flat or increasing in the wage. Our findings imply that aggregate productivity and welfare differences across countries are larger than currently thought.

Notes:

Print version record

January 2016.