Why Americans and Britons work such long hours
- Date Posted:
- Is Database:
- Database
Research by Bell & Freeman shows inequality drives longer US working hours, as steeper income gradients push individuals to work harder to climb the income ladder.
Economist reports on the Bell/Freeman hours worked research you cited inUpside
Ryan Avent, "Why Americans and Britons work such long hours,"The Economist, December 18, 2018, https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2018/12/22/why-americans-and-britons-work-such-long-hours
"...Research by Linda Bell of Barnard College and Richard Freeman of Harvard University, for example, concluded that inequality accounts for much of the difference in hours worked between America and Germany. When the income gradient in an economy or within an occupation is steeper, people work longer and harder in order to increase their chances of moving up the income ladder. Inequality might thus contribute to higher GDP (the difference in output per person between America and Belgium, for example, is entirely down to differences in hours worked rather than output per hour). But as a result, success in elite professions often hinges as much on a willingness to focus on work to the exclusion of all else as on other factors....Just as importantly, individual decisions regarding work inevitably evolve in response to choices made by peers. Edward Glaeser of Harvard University, Bruce Sacerdote of Dartmouth College and José Scheinkman of Columbia University describe a “social-multiplier” effect, which boils down to the notion that spending time in a particular way is more enjoyable when others do the same. It is costly to miss work when others are there, and more fun to attend festivals when others are also free to do so. Individual flexibility in choosing working time is important; different people have different needs and preferences. But at some level, society as a whole must judge whether or not there is more to life than work..."