Where Do The Hours Go?

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 approach taken by Saffer and Lamiraud (NBER, 2008) is to use an exogenous decline in hours of work in France due to a new employment law. Their results show that the employment law reduced hours of work but there is no evidence that the extra hours went to increased social interactions.

The Effect of Hours of Work on Social Interaction