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Work time and market integration in the original affluent society

Author

Listed:
  • Rahul Bhui

    (Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138; Department of Economics, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138)

  • Maciej Chudek

    (Private address, Tulita, NT X0E 0K0, Canada)

  • Joseph Henrich

    (Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138; Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, Toronto, ON M5G 1Z8, Canada)

Abstract

Does integration into commercial markets lead people to work longer hours? Does this mean that people in more subsistence-oriented societies work less compared to those in more market-integrated societies? Despite their venerable status in both anthropology and economic history, these questions have been difficult to address due to a dearth of appropriate data. Here, we tackle the issue by combining high-quality time allocation datasets from 8 small-scale populations around the world (45,019 observations of 863 adults) with similar aggregate data from 14 industrialized (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries. Both within and across societies, we find evidence of a positive correlation between work time and market engagement for men, although not for women. Shifting to fully commercial labor is associated with an increase in men’s work from around 45 h per week to 55 h, on average; women’s work remains at nearly 55 h per week across the spectrum. These results inform us about the socioeconomic determinants of time allocation across a wider range of human societies.

Suggested Citation

  • Rahul Bhui & Maciej Chudek & Joseph Henrich, 2019. "Work time and market integration in the original affluent society," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 116(44), pages 22100-22105, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:nas:journl:v:116:y:2019:p:22100-22105
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    Cited by:

    1. Sara Miñarro & Victoria Reyes-García & Shankar Aswani & Samiya Selim & Christopher P Barrington-Leigh & Eric D Galbraith, 2021. "Happy without money: Minimally monetized societies can exhibit high subjective well-being," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(1), pages 1-15, January.

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