Is Leisure a Normal Good? Evidence from the European Parliament

Naci Mocan and Duha Altindag ()

No 17329, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: Prior to July 2009, salaries of the members of the European Parliament were paid by their home country and there were substantial salary differences between parliamentarians representing different EU countries. Starting in July 2009, the salary of each member of the Parliament is pegged to 38.5% of a European Court judge's salary, paid by the EU. This created an exogenous change in salaries, the magnitude and direction of which varied substantially between parliamentarians. Parliamentarians receive per diem compensation for each plenary session they attend, but salaries constitute unearned income as they are independent of attendance to the Parliament. Using detailed information on each parliamentarian of the European Parliament between 2004 and 2011 we show that an increase in salaries reduces attendance to plenary sessions and an increase in per diem compensation increases it. We also show that corruption in home country has a negative effect on attendance for seasoned members of the Parliament.

JEL-codes: J22 J33 J4 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011-08
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eur and nep-lma
Note: EH LE
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Published as “ Salaries and Work Effort: Evidence from the Europea n Parliament ,” with Duha Altı ndag . ( NBER Working Paper No: 17329) . The Economic Journal. December 2013. Vol. 123; pp. 1130 - 67.

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Working Paper: Is Leisure a Normal Good? Evidence from the European Parliament (2011)
Working Paper: Is Leisure a Normal Good? Evidence from the European Parliament (2011)
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