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The Variability and Volatility of Sleep: An Archetypal Approach

Author

Listed:
  • Hamermesh, Daniel S.

    (University of Texas at Austin)

  • Pfann, Gerard A.

    (Maastricht University)

Abstract

Using Dutch time-diary data from 1975-2005 covering over 10,000 respondents for 7 consecutive days each, we show that individuals' sleep time exhibits both variability and volatility characterized by stationary autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity: The absolute values of deviations from a person's average sleep on one day are positively correlated with those on the next day. Sleep is more variable on weekends and among people with less education, who are younger and who do not have young children at home. Volatility is greater among parents with young children, slightly greater among men than women, but independent of other demographics. A theory of economic incentives to minimize the dispersion of sleep predicts that higher-wage workers will exhibit less dispersion, a result demonstrated using extraneous estimates of earnings equations to impute wage rates. Volatility in sleep spills over onto volatility in other personal activities, with no reverse causation onto sleep. The results illustrate a novel dimension of economic inequality and could be applied to a wide variety of human behavior and biological processes.

Suggested Citation

  • Hamermesh, Daniel S. & Pfann, Gerard A., 2022. "The Variability and Volatility of Sleep: An Archetypal Approach," IZA Discussion Papers 15001, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15001
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Armin Falk & Anke Becker & Thomas Dohmen & Benjamin Enke & David B. Huffman & Uwe Sunde, 2017. "Global Evidence on Economic Preferences," NBER Working Papers 23943, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Armin Falk & Anke Becker & Thomas Dohmen & Benjamin Enke & David Huffman & Uwe Sunde, 2018. "Global Evidence on Economic Preferences," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 133(4), pages 1645-1692.
    3. Lusher, Lester & Yasenov, Vasil & Luong, Phuc, 2019. "Does schedule irregularity affect productivity? Evidence from random assignment into college classes," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 115-128.
    4. Granger, C W J, 1969. "Investigating Causal Relations by Econometric Models and Cross-Spectral Methods," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 37(3), pages 424-438, July.
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    1. New and Novel ARCH Model Appication (Seriously)
      by Francis Diebold in No Hesitations on 2022-02-28 12:22:00

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    Cited by:

    1. Joan Costa-Font, 2022. "Incentivizing sleep?," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 502-502, November.
    2. Yi Fan & Diana M. Weinhold, 2022. "Urban noise, sleep disruption and health," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 54(50), pages 5782-5799, October.
    3. Conlin, Andrew & Nerg, Iiro & Ala-Mursula, Leena & Räihä, Tapio & Korhonen, Marko, 2023. "The association between chronotype and wages at mid-age," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 50(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    economic incentives in biological processes; ARCH; time use; volatility;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C22 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Time-Series Models; Dynamic Quantile Regressions; Dynamic Treatment Effect Models; Diffusion Processes
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply
    • I14 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Inequality

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