Labor supply in the past, present, and future: A balanced-growth perspective
Journal
Journal of Political Economy
ISSN
0022-3808
Type
journal article
Date Issued
2020
Author(s)
Abstract
The absence of a trend in hours worked in the postwar United States is an exception: across countries and historically, hours fall steadily by a little below 0.5% per year. Are steadily falling hours consistent with a stable utility function over consumption and leisure under balanced growth of the macroeconomic aggregates? Yes. We fully characterize the class of such functions and thus generalize the well-known “balanced-growth preferences” that demand constant (as opposed to falling) long-run hours. Key to falling hours is an income effect (of steady productivity growth on hours) that slightly outweighs the substitution effect.
Language
English
HSG Classification
contribution to scientific community
HSG Profile Area
None
Refereed
Yes
Volume
128
Number
1
Start page
118
End page
157
Subject(s)
Division(s)
Eprints ID
261582
File(s)![Thumbnail Image]()
Name
BK 1.pdf
Size
420.43 KB
Format
Adobe PDF
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