TY  - JOUR
AU  - Hamermesh,Daniel S.
AU  - Donald,Stephen
TI  - The Time and Timing Costs of Market Work
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 13127
PY  - 2007
Y2  - May 2007
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w13127
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w13127.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Daniel S. Hamermesh
Department of Economics
University of Texas
Austin, TX 78712-1173
Tel: 512/475-8526
Fax: 512/471-3510
E-Mail: hamermes@eco.utexas.edu

Stephen Donald
Dept. of Economics
University of Texas at Austin
E-Mail: donald@eco.utexas.edu
AB  - With the American Time Use Survey of 2003 and 2004 we first examine whether additional market work has neutral impacts on the mix of non-market activities. The estimates indicate that fixed time costs of market work alter patterns of non-market activities, reducing leisure time and mostly increasing time devoted to household production. Similar results are found using time-diary data for Australia, Germany and the Netherlands.  Direct estimates of the utility derived from goods consumption and two types of non-market time in the presence of these fixed costs indicate that they generate a utility-equivalent of as much as 8 percent of income that must be overcome before market work becomes an optimizing choice. Market work also alters the timing of a fixed amount of non-market activities during the day, away from the schedule chosen when market work imposes no timing constraints. All of these effects are mitigated by higher family income. The results provide a new supply-side explanation for the frequently observed discrete drop from full-time work to complete retirement.
ER  -