Work and leisure in the U.S and Europe
Subtitle: why so different?
By: Alberto Alesina, Edward L. Glaeser, Bruce Sacerdote.
Contributors: Glaeser, Edward L. 1967-; Sacerdote, Bruce.; National Bureau of Economic Research.
Series: NBER working paper series ;; working paper 11278; Working paper series (National Bureau of Economic Research : Online) ;; working paper no. 11278.
Publisher: National Bureau of Economic Research
Published: 2005
Place of publication: Cambridge, MA
Language: eng
Format: Electronic resource
Subjects: Hours of labor -- Economic aspects -- United States.; Leisure -- Economic aspects -- United States.; Leisure -- Economic aspects -- Europe.; Hours of labor -- Economic aspects -- Europe.; Hours of labor -- Social aspects -- United States.; Hours of labor -- Social aspects -- Europe.
Description: "Americans average 25.1 working hours per person in working age per week, but the Germans average 18.6 hours.  The average American works 46.2 weeks per year, while the French average 40 weeks per year.  Why do western Europeans work so much less than Americans? Recent work argues that these differences result from higher European tax rates, but the vast empirical labor supply literature suggests that tax rates can explain only a small amount of the differences in hours between the U.S.  and Europe.  Another popular view is that these differences are explained by long-standing European "culture," but Europeans worked more than Americans as late as the 1960s.  In this paper, we argue that European labor market regulations, advocated by unions in declining European industries who argued "work less, work all" explain the bulk of the difference between the U.S.  and Europe.  These policies do not seem to have increased employment, but they may have had a more society-wide influence on leisure patterns because of a social multiplier where the returns to leisure increase as more people are taking longer vacations"--National Bureau of Economic Research web site.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references.
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