Leisure Inequality in the United States: 1965-2003

Almudena Sevilla (a.sevilla@lse.ac.uk), José Ignacio Gimenez-Nadal (ngimenez@unizar.es) and Jonathan I. Gershuny (jonathan.gershuny@st-hughs.ox.ac.uk)
Additional contact information
José Ignacio Gimenez-Nadal: University of Zaragoza
Jonathan I. Gershuny: University of Oxford
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Jose Ignacio Gimenez-Nadal (ngimenez@unizar.es)

No 6708, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: This paper exploits the complex sequential structure of the diary data in the American Heritage Time Use Study (AHTUS) and constructs three classes of indicators that capture the quality of leisure ('pure leisure', 'co-present leisure' and 'leisure fragmentation') to show that the relative growth in leisure time enjoyed by less-educated individuals documented in previous studies has been accompanied by a relative decrease in the quality of that leisure time. These results are not driven by any single leisure activity, such as time watching television. Our findings may offer a more comprehensive picture of inequality in the US and provide a basis for weighing the relative decline in earnings and consumption for the less educated against the simultaneous relative growth of leisure.

Keywords: time-use; consumption; wages; income; inequality; leisure; happiness (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C13 C23 D13 J12 J16 Z13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 32 pages
Date: 2012-07
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cul and nep-ltv
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (42)

Published - published in: Demography, 2012, 49(3), 939-964

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Journal Article: Leisure Inequality in the United States: 1965–2003 (2012)
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