IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/gla/glaewp/2020_30.html

Preference to work and its effects on economic growth and happiness

Author

Listed:
  • Jim Yongtao Jin
  • Geethanjali Selvaretnam

Abstract

There are circumstantial and researched evidence that people’s preferences to work differ and change. We depart from partial equilibrium models which show decisions for labour and leisure depend on their relative prices. This paper presents a simple general equilibrium framework to show that labour hours are determined by the preference to work and are independent of real wages and consumption. Moreover, the theoretical model enables us to estimate the preference to work at the macro level. A panel data analysis across countries for the years 1990 – 2018 shows with statistical significance that preference to work has been on the downward trend and has a negative relationship with GDP per capita and the ratio of wage income to GDP. Results also show that higher the preference to work, higher the GDP growth rate and lower the reported level of happiness.

Suggested Citation

  • Jim Yongtao Jin & Geethanjali Selvaretnam, 2020. "Preference to work and its effects on economic growth and happiness," Working Papers 2020_30, Business School - Economics, University of Glasgow.
    • Handle: RePEc:gla:glaewp:2020_30
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.gla.ac.uk/media/Media_767686_smxx.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ms. Wenjie Chen & Mr. Mico Mrkaic & Mr. Malhar S Nabar, 2019. "The Global Economic Recovery 10 Years After the 2008 Financial Crisis," IMF Working Papers 2019/083, International Monetary Fund.
    2. Alfaro, Laura & Chanda, Areendam & Kalemli-Ozcan, Sebnem & Sayek, Selin, 2004. "FDI and economic growth: the role of local financial markets," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(1), pages 89-112, October.
    3. Daron Acemoglu & Simon Johnson, 2007. "Disease and Development: The Effect of Life Expectancy on Economic Growth," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 115(6), pages 925-985, December.
    4. Jones, Charles I, 1995. "R&D-Based Models of Economic Growth," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 103(4), pages 759-784, August.
    5. Persson, Torsten & Tabellini, Guido, 1994. "Is Inequality Harmful for Growth?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(3), pages 600-621, June.
    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. Jun, Bogang & Hwang, Won-Sik, 2012. "Financial Hurdles for Human Capital Accumulation: Revisiting the Galor-Zeira Model," MPRA Paper 46317, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Annarita BALDANZI & Alberto BUCCI & Klaus PRETTNER, 2016. "The Effects of Health Investments on Human Capital and R&D-Driven Economic Growth," Departmental Working Papers 2016-17, Department of Economics, Management and Quantitative Methods at Università degli Studi di Milano.
    3. Iancu, Aurel, 2009. "Real Economic Convergence," Working Papers of National Institute for Economic Research 090104, Institutul National de Cercetari Economice (INCE).
    4. Prettner, Klaus & Strulik, Holger, 2020. "Innovation, automation, and inequality: Policy challenges in the race against the machine," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 249-265.
    5. Michael Bar & Oksana Leukhina, 2010. "The role of mortality in the transmission of knowledge," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 15(4), pages 291-321, December.
    6. Bloom, David E. & Chen, Simiao & Kuhn, Michael & McGovern, Mark E. & Oxley, Les & Prettner, Klaus, 2020. "The economic burden of chronic diseases: Estimates and projections for China, Japan, and South Korea," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 17(C).
    7. Klaus Prettner & Timo Trimborn, 2017. "Demographic Change and R&D-based Economic Growth," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 84(336), pages 667-681, October.
    8. Wei-Bin Zhang, 2017. "Discrimination and Inequality in an Integrated Walrasian-General-Equilibrium and Neoclassical-Growth Theory," Asian Journal of Economic Modelling, Asian Economic and Social Society, vol. 5(1), pages 57-76, March.
    9. Kuhn, Michael & Minniti, Antonio & Prettner, Klaus & Venturini, Francesco, 2023. "Medical innovation, life expectancy, and economic growth," Department of Economics Working Paper Series 342, WU Vienna University of Economics and Business.
    10. Hagiwara, Takefumi, 2025. "Aging and its macroeconomic consequences: An inverted U-shaped endogenous economic growth," MPRA Paper 124598, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Stefanescu, Răzvan & Dumitriu, Ramona, 2015. "Creşterea economică a României între 1980 şi 2013 [The Economic Growth of Romania between 1980 and 2013]," MPRA Paper 61592, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Hyun Park, 2010. "Fiscal Policy and Equitable Growth," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 14(1), pages 121-140, February.
    13. Annarita Baldanzi & Klaus Prettner & Paul Tscheuschner, 2019. "Longevity-induced vertical innovation and the tradeoff between life and growth," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 32(4), pages 1293-1313, October.
    14. Ansgar Belke & Andreas Wernet, 2015. "Poverty Reduction through Growth and Redistribution Policies—a Panel Analysis for 59 Developing Countries," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(1), pages 143-162, February.
    15. Kuhn, Michael & Prettner, Klaus, 2016. "Growth and welfare effects of health care in knowledge-based economies," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 100-119.
    16. ZHANG Wei-Bin, 2013. "Time, Income And Wealth Distribution Among Heterogeneous Households In A Two-Sector Model With Sector-Specific Externalities: A Synthesis Of The Arrow-Debreu Equilibrium Theory And Solow-Uzawa Growth ," Studies in Business and Economics, Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Faculty of Economic Sciences, vol. 8(3), pages 103-124, Decembre.
    17. Strulik, Holger & Werner, Katharina, 2014. "Elite education, mass education, and the transition to modern growth," University of Göttingen Working Papers in Economics 205, University of Goettingen, Department of Economics.
    18. Guido Cozzi & Fabio Privileggi, 2009. "The fractal nature of inequality in a fast growing world: new version," Working Papers 2009_30, Business School - Economics, University of Glasgow.
    19. Hongyi Li & Danyang Xie & Heng‐Fu Zou, 2000. "Dynamics of income distribution," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 33(4), pages 937-961, November.
    20. Beugelsdijk, Sjoerd & Smeets, Roger & Zwinkels, Remco, 2008. "The impact of horizontal and vertical FDI on host's country economic growth," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 17(4), pages 452-472, August.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply
    • O4 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity
    • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being
    • D5 - Microeconomics - - General Equilibrium and Disequilibrium

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:gla:glaewp:2020_30. 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: Business School Research Team (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/dpglauk.html .

    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.