The Effect of Hours of Work on Social Interaction / Henry Saffer, Karine Lamiraud.

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Saffer, Henry

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Material type: Text

TextSeries: Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) ; no. w13743.Publication details: Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2008.Description: 1 online resource: illustrations (black and white)Subject(s):

Z1 - Cultural Economics • Economic Sociology • Economic Anthropology

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Abstract: Over time, increases in hours of work per capita have created the intuitively plausible notion that there is less time available to pursue social interactions. The specific question addressed in this paper is the effect of hours of work on social interaction. This is a difficult empirical question since omitted factors could increase both hours of work and social interaction. The approach taken in this paper utilizes an exogenous decline in hours of work in France due to a new employment law. The results clearly show that the employment law reduced hours of work but there is no evidence that the extra hours went to increased social interactions. Although hours of work are not an important determinant of social interaction, human capital is found to be important. The effect of human capital, as measured by education and age, is positive for membership groups but negative for visiting relatives and friends. Also, contrary to expectations, there are no important differences in the determinants of social interaction by gender, marital status or parent status. Finally, a comparison between France and the US show that the response to human capital and other variables are much the same in both nations.

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Item type	Home library	Collection	Call number	Status	Date due	Barcode	Item holds
Working Paper	Biblioteca Digital	Colección NBER	nber w13743 (Browse shelf(Opens below))	Not For Loan

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Previous	nber w13740 Sui Generis EMU /	nber w13741 Forming Priors for DSGE Models (and How it Affects the Assessment of Nominal Rigidities) /	nber w13742 Optimal Resource Extraction Contracts Under Threat of Expropriation /	nber w13743 The Effect of Hours of Work on Social Interaction /	nber w13744 The Rise and (Partial) Fall of Abstract Painting in the Twentieth Century /	nber w13745 Effects of Taxes on Economic Behavior /	nber w13746 Preference Heterogeneity and Insurance Markets: Explaining a Puzzle of Insurance /	Next

January 2008.

Over time, increases in hours of work per capita have created the intuitively plausible notion that there is less time available to pursue social interactions. The specific question addressed in this paper is the effect of hours of work on social interaction. This is a difficult empirical question since omitted factors could increase both hours of work and social interaction. The approach taken in this paper utilizes an exogenous decline in hours of work in France due to a new employment law. The results clearly show that the employment law reduced hours of work but there is no evidence that the extra hours went to increased social interactions. Although hours of work are not an important determinant of social interaction, human capital is found to be important. The effect of human capital, as measured by education and age, is positive for membership groups but negative for visiting relatives and friends. Also, contrary to expectations, there are no important differences in the determinants of social interaction by gender, marital status or parent status. Finally, a comparison between France and the US show that the response to human capital and other variables are much the same in both nations.