A Century of Work and Leisure

Valerie Ramey and Neville Francis

No 12264, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: 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.

JEL-codes: E2 N1 N3 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2006-05
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-bec, nep-cba and nep-mac
Note: EFG LS
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (27)

Published as Valerie A. Ramey & Neville Francis, 2009. "A Century of Work and Leisure," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 1(2), pages 189-224, July.

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Related works:
Journal Article: A Century of Work and Leisure (2009)
Working Paper: A Century of Work and Leisure (2006)
Working Paper: A Century of Work and Leisure (2005)
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