Differences in US-German Time-Allocation: Why Do Americans Work Longer Hours than Germans?

Ronald Schettkat

No 697, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: The conventional view is that Americans work longer hours than Germans and other Europeans but when time in household production is included, overall working time is very similar on both sides of the Atlantic. Americans spend more time on market work but German invest more in household production. This paper examines whether these differences in the allocation of time can be explained by differences in the incentive structure, this is by the taxwedge and differences in the wage differentials, as economic theory suggests. Its analysis of unique time-use data reveals that the differences in time-allocation patterns can indeed be explained by economic variables.

Keywords: time use; working hours; employment; household production (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D12 D13 H31 J22 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 26 pages
Date: 2003-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eec, nep-lab and nep-pke
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

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Working Paper: Differences in US-German time-allocation: Why do Americans work longer hours than Germans? (2002)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:iza:izadps:dp697

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