The Opportunity Cost of Time in the History of Economic Thought

Le Cout d'Opportunité du Temps à Travers l'Histoire de la Pensée Economique

Anil Alpman ()
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Anil Alpman: EGEI - Éthique et Gouvernance de l’Entreprise et des Institutions - UCO - Université Catholique de l'Ouest

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Abstract: This paper traces the historical development of the opportunity cost of time, beginning with Stanley Jevons. It is only in the recent past that the various factors influencing the opportunity cost of non-market time have been elucidated. However, the literature that highlights the discrepancy between the wage rate and the opportunity cost of time has been largely overlooked by economists, who have instead relied on the leisure-income model for empirical applications. The forgotten literature, which is recovered in this paper, calls for a closer examination of those empirical applications, and it o↵ers a new perspective on labor supply paradigms.

Keywords: Opportunity cost of time; Labour; Leisure; Time allocation; History of economic thought.; Labour supply (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025-03-18
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