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Nightless City: Impacts of Policymakers’ Questions on Overtime Work of Government Officials

Author

Listed:
  • Natsuki Arai

    (National Chengchi University)

  • Masashige Hamano

    (Waseda University)

  • Munechika Katayama

    (Waseda University)

  • Yuki Murakami

    (Waseda University)

  • Katsunori Yamada

    (Kindai University)

Abstract

We quantify the impact of unexpectedly assigned tasks on overtime work in the context of Japanese government officials. Data on overtime work are typically less reliable. We overcome this problem by using mobile phone location data, which enables us to precisely measure the nighttime population in the government-office district in Tokyo at an hourly frequency. Exploiting the exogenous nature of task arrivals, we estimate impacts on overtime work. We find that, in response to a newly assigned task, overtime work initially decreases and then increases persistently. Institutional changes to relax the time constraint and improve the working environment of government officials play a part in mitigating overtime work, but persistent increases in overtime work remain. We provide a simple model of optimal work allocation and show that distortion in intertemporal task allocation can account for the observed responses.

Suggested Citation

  • Natsuki Arai & Masashige Hamano & Munechika Katayama & Yuki Murakami & Katsunori Yamada, 2022. "Nightless City: Impacts of Policymakers’ Questions on Overtime Work of Government Officials," Working Papers 2125, Waseda University, Faculty of Political Science and Economics, revised Oct 2023.
    • Handle: RePEc:wap:wpaper:2125
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    mobile location data; overtime work; local projection; government officials;
    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
    • H11 - Public Economics - - Structure and Scope of Government - - - Structure and Scope of Government
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply

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