Raymond B. Palmquist, Daniel J. Phaneuf, V. Kerry Smith
NBER Working Paper No. 13594Issued in November 2007NBER Program(s): EEE LS
---- Abstract -----
Most economic models for time allocation ignore constraints on what people can actually do with their time. Economists recently have emphasized the importance of considering prior consumption commitments that constrain behavior. This research develops a new model for time valuation that uses time commitments to distinguish consumers' choice margins and the different values of time these imply. The model is estimated using a new survey that elicits revealed and stated preference data on household time allocation. The empirical results support the framework and find an increasing marginal opportunity cost of time as longer time blocks are used.
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1 comment:
I saw this paper and thought it was very interesting. In fact, I had also been thinking about constraints in models of time use behaviour when I wrote up a draft of my first PhD paper recently.
I was thinking about this in the context of the Beshears et al
(2007) paper which suggests that true preferences may sometimes not be revealed because of decision-making errors. These authirs didn't mention constarints in their paper, but I had been thinking "What if the student is not making a decision-making error when they work excessively in the labour market? Maybe they simply cannot cut down on part-time work because they need a certain amount of financial resources for basic consumption?"
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