Labor Supply and the Value of Non-work Time: Experimental Estimates from the Field

Alexandre Mas and Amanda Pallais

American Economic Review: Insights, 2019, vol. 1, issue 1, 111-26

Abstract: We estimate the marginal value of non-work time (MVT) using a field experiment. We offered job applicants randomized wage-hour bundles. Choices over these bundles yield estimates of the MVT as a function of hours, tracing out a labor supply relationship. The substitution effect is positive. Individual labor supply is highly elastic at low hours and more inelastic at higher hours. For unemployed applicants, our preferred estimate of the average opportunity cost of a full-time job due to lost leisure and household production is 60 percent of after-tax marginal product, and 72 percent when including fixed costs of employment and child-care costs.

JEL-codes: C93 J22 J24 J31 J64 J65 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
Note: DOI: 10.1257/aeri.20180070
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (24)

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Working Paper: Labor Supply and the Value of Non-Work Time: Experimental Estimates from the Field (2017)
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