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Conventional wisdom holds that time is a given.
Days, weeks, months and years unfold as immutably as the seasons and are as immune to man's interfering hand as the weather. Despite the relative neglect by economists, time can be harnessed and reordered as an economic resource. Here I focus instead on how a recasting of the week can improve the quality of life for everyone. While the day, month and year are subject to celestial limitations, the week is purely arbitrary. Indeed, the seven-day week, adopted by most, but not all, contemporary societies, goes back only to the fourth century.