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The Variability and Volatility of Sleep: An ARCHetypal Behavior

Author

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  • Daniel S. Hamermesh
  • Gerard A. Pfann

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

  • Daniel S. Hamermesh & Gerard A. Pfann, 2022. "The Variability and Volatility of Sleep: An ARCHetypal Behavior," NBER Working Papers 29658, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:29658
    Note: EH LS
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    Cited by:

    1. Joan Costa‐Font & Sarah Fleche & Ricardo Pagan, 2024. "The welfare effects of time reallocation: evidence from Daylight Saving Time," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 91(362), pages 547-568, April.
    2. 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).
    3. Joan Costa-Font, 2022. "Incentivizing sleep?," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 502-502, November.
    4. Yi Fan & Diana M. Weinhold, 2022. "Urban noise, sleep disruption and health," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 54(50), pages 5782-5799, October.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

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

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