IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/oup/oxecpp/v59y2007i2p226-252.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Free to choose? Differences in the hours determination of constrained and unconstrained workers

Author

Listed:
  • Mark L. Bryan

Abstract

In surveys, large minorities of individuals typically report that they would like to change their weekly working hours at their current hourly wage. If this evidence reflects genuine constraints on choice of hours, the determinants of hours should differ between constrained and unconstrained groups. Controlling for selection by an extension of the Heckman two-step method to ordered selection and panel data, and using a sample of manual men, I find that unconstrained workers' hours are determined differently from those of constrained workers. I present evidence that local labour market conditions affect the hours of constrained but not of unconstrained workers. I also correct for the potential bias resulting from the use of observed hours to derive the hourly wage, by instrumenting it with its lagged value. The combination of ignoring hours constraints and assuming the derived hourly wage is exogenous imparts a downward bias to wage elasticity estimates. Copyright 2007 , Oxford University Press.

Suggested Citation

  • Mark L. Bryan, 2007. "Free to choose? Differences in the hours determination of constrained and unconstrained workers," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 59(2), pages 226-252, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:oxecpp:v:59:y:2007:i:2:p:226-252
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/oep/gpl033
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or

    for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. René Böheim & Mark P. Taylor, 2004. "Actual and Preferred Working Hours," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 42(1), pages 149-166, March.
    2. John C. Ham, 1982. "Estimation of a Labour Supply Model with Censoring Due to Unemployment and Underemployment," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 49(3), pages 335-354.
    3. Wooldridge, Jeffrey M., 1995. "Selection corrections for panel data models under conditional mean independence assumptions," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1), pages 115-132, July.
    4. Kahn, Shulamit & Lang, Kevin, 1991. "The Effect of Hours Constraints on Labor Supply Estimates," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 73(4), pages 605-611, November.
    5. Moffitt, Robert A., 1999. "New developments in econometric methods for labor market analysis," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 24, pages 1367-1397, Elsevier.
    6. Stewart, Mark B & Swaffield, Joanna K, 1997. "Constraints on the Desired Hours of Work of British Men," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 107(441), pages 520-535, March.
    7. repec:fth:prinin:262 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Joseph G. Altonji & Christina H. Paxson, 1985. "Job Characteristics and Hours of Work," Working Papers 578, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section..
    9. Zabel, Jeffrey E., 1992. "Estimating fixed and random effects models with selectivity," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 40(3), pages 269-272, November.
    10. Vella, Francis & Verbeek, Marno, 1999. "Two-step estimation of panel data models with censored endogenous variables and selection bias," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 90(2), pages 239-263, June.
    11. Altonji, Joseph G, 1986. "Intertemporal Substitution in Labor Supply: Evidence from Micro Data," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 94(3), pages 176-215, June.
    12. Mark B. Stewart & Joanna K. Swaffield, 1999. "Low Pay Dynamics and Transition Probabilities," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 66(261), pages 23-42, February.
    13. David Card, 1990. "Labor Supply with a Minimum Hours Threshold," Working Papers 642, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section..
    14. Card, David, 1990. "Labor supply with a minimum hours threshold," Carnegie-Rochester Conference Series on Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 137-168, January.
    15. George J. Borjas, 1980. "The Relationship between Wages and Weekly Hours of Work: The Role of Division Bias," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 15(3), pages 409-423.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Richard Blundell & Mike Brewer & Marco Francesconi, 2008. "Job Changes and Hours Changes: Understanding the Path of Labor Supply Adjustment," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 26(3), pages 421-453, July.
    2. Martinez-Granado, Maite, 2005. "Testing labour supply and hours constraints," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 12(3), pages 321-343, June.
    3. Philip Trostel & Ian Walker, 2006. "Education and Work," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(4), pages 377-399.
    4. Michele Battisti & Ryan Michaels & Choonsung Park, 2016. "Labor supply within the firm," ifo Working Paper Series 222, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich.
    5. John Pencavel, 2016. "Whose Preferences Are Revealed In Hours Of Work?," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 54(1), pages 9-24, January.
    6. Sousa-Poza, Alfonso & Ziegler, Alexandre, 2003. "Asymmetric information about workers' productivity as a cause for inefficient long working hours," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 10(6), pages 727-747, December.
    7. Senesky, Sarah, 2005. "Testing the intertemporal labor supply model: are jobs important?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 12(6), pages 749-772, December.
    8. Manning, Alan, 2001. "Labour supply, search and taxes," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(3), pages 409-434, June.
    9. Roger Wilkins, 2004. "The Extent and Consequences of Underemployment in Australia," Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series wp2004n16, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne.
    10. Michael C. Knaus & Steffen Otterbach, 2019. "Work Hour Mismatch And Job Mobility: Adjustment Channels And Resolution Rates," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 57(1), pages 227-242, January.
    11. Gutiérrez-i-Puigarnau, Eva & van Ommeren, Jos N., 2010. "Labour supply and commuting," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1), pages 82-89, July.
    12. Richard Rogerson, 2011. "Individual and Aggregate Labor Supply with Coordinated Working Times," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 43, pages 7-37, August.
    13. Eva Gutierrez-i-Puigarnau & Jos van Ommeren, 2009. "Labour Supply and Commuting: Implications for Optimal Road Taxes," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 09-008/3, Tinbergen Institute.
    14. Keith A. Bender & John Douglas Skåtun, 2009. "Constrained By Hours And Restricted In Wages: The Quality Of Matches In The Labor Market," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 47(3), pages 512-529, July.
    15. Raj Chetty & Adam Guren & Day Manoli & Andrea Weber, 2013. "Does Indivisible Labor Explain the Difference between Micro and Macro Elasticities? A Meta-Analysis of Extensive Margin Elasticities," NBER Macroeconomics Annual, University of Chicago Press, vol. 27(1), pages 1-56.
    16. Usui, Emiko & 臼井, 恵美子, 2012. "Gender Occupational Segregation in an Equilibrium Search Model," CIS Discussion paper series 560, Center for Intergenerational Studies, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University.
    17. repec:dgr:uvatin:20090008 is not listed on IDEAS
    18. Euwals, Rob, 2002. "The Predictive Value of Subjective Labour Supply Data: A Dynamic Panel Data Model with Measurement Error," CEPR Discussion Papers 3121, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    19. Kawata, Keisuke, 2015. "Work hour mismatches and on-the-job search," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 280-291.
    20. Badi Baltagi & Seuck Song, 2006. "Unbalanced panel data: A survey," Statistical Papers, Springer, vol. 47(4), pages 493-523, October.
    21. Anne C. Gielen, 2009. "Working hours flexibility and older workers' labor supply," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 61(2), pages 240-274, April.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:oup:oxecpp:v:59:y:2007:i:2:p:226-252. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Oxford University Press (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://academic.oup.com/oep .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.