Abstract
From 1830 to 2000 hours worked fell on two accounts: a drop in the market workweek and a decline in housework. The end result was that leisure rose. What caused this? The answer is technological progress. First, rising living standards implied that people could work less. Second, the introduction of new forms of leisure goods enhanced the value of time off. Third, time-saving household products reduced the need for housework. The time released allowed women to switch from home into market production. These points are illustrated with the use of historical evidence, economic theory, and numerical examples.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Bibliography
Aguiar, M., and E. Hurst. 2006. Measuring trends in leisure: The allocation of time over five decades. Working paper no. 06-2, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
Becker, G. 1965. A theory of the allocation of time. Economic Journal 75: 493–417.
Caplow, T., L. Hicks, and B. Wattenberg. 2001. The first measured century: An illustrated guide to trends in America, 1900–2000. Washington, DC: AEI Press.
Costa, D. 1997. Less of a luxury: The rise of recreation since 1888. Working paper no. 6054. Cambridge: NBER.
Greenwood, J., A. Seshadri, and M. Yorukoglu. 2005. Engines of liberation. Review of Economic Studies 72: 109–133.
Greenwood, J., and A. Seshadri. 2005. Technological progress and economic transformation. In Handbook of economic growth, ed. P. Aghion and S. Durlauf, Vol. 1B. Amsterdam: North-Holland.
Kopecky, K. 2005. The trend in retirement. Economie d’avant garde Research Report No. 12, Department of Economics, University of Rochester.
Lebergott, S. 1996. Consumer expenditures: New measures and old motives. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Mulligan, C. 2002. A century of labor–leisure distortions. Working paper no. 8774. Cambridge: NBER.
Pareto, V. 1906. Manual of political economy, 1971. New York: Augustus M. Kelly.
Prescott, E. 2004. Why do Americans work so much more than Europeans? Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis Quarterly Review 28: 2–13.
Reid, M. 1934. Economics of household production. New York: John Wiley.
US Bureau of the Census. 1975. Historical statistics of the United States: Colonial Times to 1970. Washington, DC: US Department of Commerce.
US Bureau of the Census. 2003. Statistical abstract of the United States, Mini Historical Statistics (suppl.). Washington, DC: US Department of Commerce.
Vandenbroucke, G. 2005. A model of the trends in hours. Economie d’avant garde Research Report No. 11, Department of Economics, University of Rochester.
Whaples, R. 1990. The shortening of the American work week: An economic and historical analysis of its context, causes, and consequences. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Pennsylvania.
Williamson, J. 1995. The evolution of global labor markets since 1830: Background evidence and hypotheses. Explorations in Economic History 32: 141–196.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Copyright information
© 2018 Macmillan Publishers Ltd.
About this entry
Cite this entry
Greenwood, J., Vandenbroucke, G. (2018). Hours Worked (Long-Run Trends). In: The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95189-5_2409
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95189-5_2409
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-95188-8
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-95189-5
eBook Packages: Economics and FinanceReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences