IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/ifsowp/17.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Varieties of the rat race: Working hours in the age of abundance

Author

Listed:
  • Behringer, Jan
  • Gonzalez Granda, Martin
  • van Treeck, Till

Abstract

We ask why working hours in the rich world have not declined more sharply or even risen at times since the early 1980s, despite a steady increase in productivity, and why they vary so much across rich countries. We use an internationally comparable database on working hours (Bick et al., 2019) and conduct panel data estimations for a sample of 17 European countries and the United States over the period 1983-2019. We find that high or increasing top-end income inequality, decentralized labor relations, and limited government provision of education and other in-kind services contribute to long working hours. Our results are consistent with the hypothesis that upward-looking status comparisons in positional consumption ("Veblen effects") contribute to a "rat race" of long working hours that is more or less pronounced in different varieties of capitalism.

Suggested Citation

  • Behringer, Jan & Gonzalez Granda, Martin & van Treeck, Till, 2022. "Varieties of the rat race: Working hours in the age of abundance," ifso working paper series 17, University of Duisburg-Essen, Institute for Socioeconomics (ifso).
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:ifsowp:17
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/251350/1/1795348089.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Claudia Olivetti & Barbara Petrongolo, 2017. "The Economic Consequences of Family Policies: Lessons from a Century of Legislation in High-Income Countries," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 31(1), pages 205-230, Winter.
    2. Alexander Bick & Nicola Fuchs-Schündeln & David Lagakos, 2018. "How Do Hours Worked Vary with Income? Cross-Country Evidence and Implications," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 108(1), pages 170-199, January.
    3. Alexander Bick & Nicola Fuchs-Schündeln, 2018. "Taxation and Labour Supply of Married Couples across Countries: A Macroeconomic Analysis," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 85(3), pages 1543-1576.
    4. Alberto Alesina & Edward Glaeser & Bruce Sacerdote, 2005. "Work and Leisure in the U. S. and Europe: Why so Different?," Harvard Institute of Economic Research Working Papers 2068, Harvard - Institute of Economic Research.
    5. Kelly S. Ragan, 2013. "Taxes and Time Use: Fiscal Policy in a Household Production Model," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 5(1), pages 168-192, January.
    6. Zhifeng Cai & Jonathan Heathcote, 2022. "College Tuition and Income Inequality," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 112(1), pages 81-121, January.
    7. Marianne Bertrand & Adair Morse, 2016. "Trickle-Down Consumption," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 98(5), pages 863-879, December.
    8. Matthias Doepke & Giuseppe Sorrenti & Fabrizio Zilibotti, 2019. "The Economics of Parenting," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 11(1), pages 55-84, August.
    9. Edward C. Prescott, 2004. "Why do Americans work so much more than Europeans?," Quarterly Review, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, vol. 28(Jul), pages 2-13.
    10. Bell, Linda A. & Freeman, Richard B., 2001. "The incentive for working hard: explaining hours worked differences in the US and Germany," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 8(2), pages 181-202, May.
    11. Mark Aguiar & Erik Hurst, 2007. "Measuring Trends in Leisure: The Allocation of Time Over Five Decades," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 122(3), pages 969-1006.
    12. Landais, Camille & Kleven, Henrik & Posch, Johanna & Steinhauer, Andreas & Zweimüller, Josef, 2020. "Do Family Policies Reduce Gender Inequality? Evidence from 60 Years of Policy Experimentation," CEPR Discussion Papers 15437, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    13. Oh, Seung-Yun & Park, Yongjin & Bowles, Samuel, 2012. "Veblen effects, political representation, and the reduction in working time over the 20th century," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 83(2), pages 218-242.
    14. Daniele Checchi & Cecilia García-Peñalosa & Lara Vivian, 2016. "Are changes in the dispersion of hours worked a cause of increased earnings inequality?," IZA Journal of European Labor Studies, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 5(1), pages 1-34, December.
    15. Alexander Bick & Bettina Brüggemann & Nicola Fuchs‐Schündeln, 2019. "Hours Worked in Europe and the United States: New Data, New Answers," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 121(4), pages 1381-1416, October.
    16. Samuel Bowles & Yongjin Park, 2005. "Emulation, Inequality, and Work Hours: Was Thorsten Veblen Right?," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 115(507), pages 397-412, November.
    17. Brian Burgoon & Phineas Baxandall, 2004. "Three Worlds of Working Time: The Partisan and Welfare Politics of Work Hours in Industrialized Countries," Politics & Society, , vol. 32(4), pages 439-473, December.
    18. Chakraborty, Indraneel & Holter, Hans A. & Stepanchuk, Serhiy, 2015. "Marriage stability, taxation and aggregate labor supply in the U.S. vs. Europe," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 1-20.
    19. Anna Fruttero & Daniel Gurara & Lisa L Kolovich & Vivian Malta & Marina Mendes Tavares & Nino Tchelishvili & Stefania Fabrizio, 2020. "Women in the Labor Force; The Role of Fiscal Policies," IMF Staff Discussion Notes 20/03, International Monetary Fund.
    20. Richard Rogerson, 2007. "Taxation and market work: is Scandinavia an outlier?," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 32(1), pages 59-85, July.
    21. Claudia Olivetti & Barbara Petrongolo, 2017. "The Economic Consequences of Family Policies: Lessons from a Century of Legislation," Working Papers 811, Queen Mary University of London, School of Economics and Finance.
    22. Claudia Olivetti & Barbara Petrongolo, 2017. "The Economic Consequences of Family Policies: Lessons from a Century of Legislation in High-Income Countries," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 31(1), pages 205-230, Winter.
    23. Peter Kuhn & Fernando Lozano, 2008. "The Expanding Workweek? Understanding Trends in Long Work Hours among U.S. Men, 1979-2006," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 26(2), pages 311-343, April.
    24. Anna Fruttero & Daniel Gurara & Ms. Lisa L Kolovich & Vivian Malta & Ms. Marina Mendes Tavares & Nino Tchelishvili & Ms. Stefania Fabrizio, 2020. "Women in the Labor Force: The Role of Fiscal Policies," IMF Staff Discussion Notes 2020/003, International Monetary Fund.
    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. Sila, Urban, 2009. "Can family-support policies help explain differences in working hours across countries?," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 28684, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    2. Michelle Rendall, 2018. "Female Market Work, Tax Regimes, and the Rise of the Service Sector," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 28, pages 269-289, April.
    3. Michelle Rendall, 2018. "Female Market Work, Tax Regimes, and the Rise of the Service Sector," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 28, pages 269-289, April.
    4. Robert Duval-Hernandez & Lei Fang & L. Rachel Ngai, 2017. "Taxes and Market Hours: The Role of Gender and Skill," FRB Atlanta Working Paper 2017-8, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.
    5. Fang, Lei & Yang, Fang, 2022. "Consumption and hours in the United States and Europe," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    6. Lei Fang & Fang Yang, 2021. "Consumption and Hours between the United States and France," FRB Atlanta Working Paper 2021-7, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.
    7. Duernecker, Georg & Herrendorf, Berthold, 2018. "On the allocation of time – A quantitative analysis of the roles of taxes and productivities," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 169-187.
    8. Oh, Seung-Yun & Park, Yongjin & Bowles, Samuel, 2012. "Veblen effects, political representation, and the reduction in working time over the 20th century," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 83(2), pages 218-242.
    9. Tobias Laun & Johanna Wallenius, 2021. "Having It All? Employment, Earnings, and Children," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 123(1), pages 353-381, January.
    10. Turon, Hélène, 2022. "The Labour Supply of Mothers," IZA Discussion Papers 15312, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    11. Nicola Fuchs-Schündeln & Alexander Bick, 2014. "Taxation and Labor Supply of Married Women across Countries: A Macroeconomic Analysis," 2014 Meeting Papers 321, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    12. Ek, Andreas, 2021. "Cross-country differences in preferences for leisure," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    13. Daniele Checchi & Cecilia García-Peñalosa & Lara Vivian & Cecilia Garcia-Peñalosa, 2022. "Hours Inequality," CESifo Working Paper Series 10128, CESifo.
    14. Zwickl, Klara & Disslbacher, Franziska & Stagl, Sigrid, 2016. "Work-sharing for a sustainable economy," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 246-253.
    15. Agustin Velasquez & Svetlana Vtyurina, 2019. "How Does Taxation Affect Hours Worked in EU New Member States?," IMF Working Papers 2019/130, International Monetary Fund.
    16. Feld, Lars P. & Schmidt, Christoph M. & Schnabel, Isabel & Truger, Achim & Wieland, Volker, 2019. "Den Strukturwandel meistern. Jahresgutachten 2019/20 [Dealing with Structural Change. Annual Report 2019/20]," Annual Economic Reports / Jahresgutachten, German Council of Economic Experts / Sachverständigenrat zur Begutachtung der gesamtwirtschaftlichen Entwicklung, volume 127, number 201920.
    17. Cortes, Patricia & Pan, Jessica, 2020. "Children and the Remaining Gender Gaps in the Labor Market," IZA Discussion Papers 13759, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    18. Margit Schratzenstaller & Fanny Dellinger, 2018. "Genderdifferenzierte Lenkungswirkungen des Abgabensystems auf das Arbeitsangebot," WIFO Monatsberichte (monthly reports), WIFO, vol. 91(2), pages 105-120, February.
    19. Fuchs-Schündeln, Nicola & Bick, Alexander & Lagakos, David & Tsujiyama, Hitoshi, 2019. "Why are Average Hours Worked Lower in Richer Countries?," CEPR Discussion Papers 14180, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    20. Henrik Kleven & Camille Landais & Jakob Egholt Søgaard, 2021. "Does Biology Drive Child Penalties? Evidence from Biological and Adoptive Families," American Economic Review: Insights, American Economic Association, vol. 3(2), pages 183-198, June.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    working hours; Veblen effects; income inequality; varieties of capitalism;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • J20 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - General
    • P16 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Capitalist Economies - - - Capitalist Institutions; Welfare State
    • P50 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Comparative Economic Systems - - - General

    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:zbw:ifsowp:17. 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: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/isduede.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.