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Rising inequality and trends in leisure

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  • Ngai, Liwa Rachel
  • Boppart, Timo

Abstract

This paper develops a model that generates rising average leisure time and increasing leisure inequality along a path of balanced growth. Households derive utility from three sources: market goods, home goods and leisure. Home production and leisure are both activities that require time and capital. Households allocate time and capital to these non-market activities, work and rent capital out to the market place. The dynamics are driven by activity-specific TFP growth and a spread in the distribution of household-specific labor market efficiencies. When the spread is set to match the increase in wage inequality across education groups, the model can account for the observed average time series and cross-sectional dynamics of leisure time in the U.S. over the last five decades.

Suggested Citation

  • Ngai, Liwa Rachel & Boppart, Timo, 2017. "Rising inequality and trends in leisure," CEPR Discussion Papers 12325, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:12325
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    Cited by:

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    2. Lei Fang & Anne Hannusch & Pedro Silos, 2021. "Luxuries, Necessities, and the Allocation of Time," FRB Atlanta Working Paper 2021-28, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.
    3. Krenz, Astrid & Strulik, Holger, 2022. "Automation and the Fall and Rise of the Servant Economy," VfS Annual Conference 2022 (Basel): Big Data in Economics 264034, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    4. Edgar Cruz & Xavier Raurich, 2020. "Leisure time and the sectoral composition of employment," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 38, pages 198-219, October.
    5. Edgar Cruz & Xavier Raurich, 2020. "Leisure time and the sectoral composition of employment," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 38, pages 198-219, October.
    6. Rosas Martínez, Víctor Hugo, 2022. "A theoretical Assessment: The Limit of Governmental Expenditures or Investments on Economic Growth," MPRA Paper 114698, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Bridgman, Benjamin, 2022. "Is Productivity On Vacation? The Impact Of The Digital Economy On The Value Of Leisure," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 26(1), pages 127-148, January.
    8. Nicolás Depetris-Chauvin & Agustin Velasquez, 2023. "Trade, Income and Heterogeneous Labor Supply," Working Papers 261, Red Nacional de Investigadores en Economía (RedNIE).
    9. Alexandr Kopytov & Nikolai Roussanov & Mathieu Taschereau-Dumouchel, 2023. "Cheap Thrills: The Price of Leisure and the Global Decline in Work Hours," Journal of Political Economy Macroeconomics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 1(1), pages 80-118.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Leisure; Labor supply; Inequality; Home production; Balanced growth path;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O41 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - One, Two, and Multisector Growth Models
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply
    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity

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