Angus Maddison, 'Growth and Slowdown in Advanced Capitalist Economies' journal of Economic Literature, vol XXV, no 2, June 1987. Annual hours are hours worked per person per year. Labour productivity is GDP per hour worked My own estimates for the United States suggest that Maddison may have overstated the hours decline. Similarly, in Japan, hours have most probably risen since 1973. The simple neoclassical model begins with individuals' preference functions.
Employers offer job schedules which conform to individuals' preferences.
This so-called 'worker sovereignty' in the labour market is ensured by competition. Should the market fail to provide the schedules people want, new employers would come along and outcompete existing firms. This simple neoclassical story is not well supported by the evidence, at least for the United States and Japan. Most important for our purposes is the question of whether or not firms allow workers to choose hours. Studies of US workers show significant constraints on choice of hours.