The 15-Hour Week: Keynes's Prediction Revisited

Nicholas Crafts

No 16140, CEPR Discussion Papers from C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers

Abstract: In 1930 Keynes opined that by 2030 people would work only 15 hours per week. As such, this prediction will not be realised. However, expected lifetime hours of leisure and non-market work in the UK rose by 60 per cent between 1931 and 2011, considerably more than Keynes would have expected. This reflects increases in life expectancy at older ages and much longer expected periods of retirement. Leisure in retirement contributes to high life satisfaction for the elderly but building up savings to pay for it is a barrier to working only 15 hours per week.

Keywords: Leisure; Life expectancy; Retirement; Work (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J22 J26 N34 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021-05
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Related works:
Journal Article: The 15‐Hour Week: Keynes's Prediction Revisited (2022)
Working Paper: The 15-Hour Week: Keynes's Prediction Revisited (2021)
Working Paper: The 15-Hour Week: Keynes’s Prediction Revisited (2021)
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