Long Working Hours Make Us Less Productive but Also Less Costly

Françoise Delmez; Vincent Vandenberghe

doi:10.1111/labr.12128

Long Working Hours Make Us Less Productive but Also Less Costly

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Résumé

This paper develops and assesses empirically a simple model of firms’ optimal decision regarding working hours, where productivity varies with hours and where the firm faces quasi‐fixed labour costs. Using Belgian firm‐level data on production, labour costs, workers, and hours, and focusing on the estimation of elasticities along the isoquant and the isocost, we find evidence of not only declining productivity of hours but also of quasi‐fixed labour costs in the range of 20 per cent of total labour costs. The tentative conclusion is that firms facing such costs are enticed to raise working hours, even if this results in lower productivity.

langue originale	Anglais
Pages (de - à)	259-287
Nombre de pages	29
journal	Labour
Volume	32
Numéro de publication	4
Date de mise en ligne précoce	2018
Les DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1111/labr.12128
Etat de la publication	Publié - 1 déc. 2018

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10.1111/labr.12128

Autres fichiers et liens

Marché du travail et marchés financiers: Causes du taux de chômage élevé et persistant après les crises financières sous différentes configurations institutionnelles.
DELMEZ, F. (Responsable du Projet) & De Crombrugghe De Picquendaele, A. (Promoteur)
1/10/14 → 6/01/19
Projet: Recherche

Contient cette citation

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title = "Long Working Hours Make Us Less Productive but Also Less Costly",

abstract = "This paper develops and assesses empirically a simple model of firms{\textquoteright} optimal decision regarding working hours, where productivity varies with hours and where the firm faces quasi‐fixed labour costs. Using Belgian firm‐level data on production, labour costs, workers, and hours, and focusing on the estimation of elasticities along the isoquant and the isocost, we find evidence of not only declining productivity of hours but also of quasi‐fixed labour costs in the range of 20 per cent of total labour costs. The tentative conclusion is that firms facing such costs are enticed to raise working hours, even if this results in lower productivity.",

author = "Fran{\c c}oise Delmez and Vincent Vandenberghe",

note = "Funding Information: Both authors would like to thank all the seminar participants who provided feedback on earlier versions of this work. F. Delmez gratefully acknowledges funding from the Belgian Fund for Scientific Research (FNRS). Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2018 CEIS, Fondazione Giacomo Brodolini and John Wiley & Sons Ltd Copyright: Copyright 2018 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.",

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AU - Delmez, Françoise

AU - Vandenberghe, Vincent

N1 - Funding Information: Both authors would like to thank all the seminar participants who provided feedback on earlier versions of this work. F. Delmez gratefully acknowledges funding from the Belgian Fund for Scientific Research (FNRS). Publisher Copyright: © 2018 CEIS, Fondazione Giacomo Brodolini and John Wiley & Sons Ltd Copyright: Copyright 2018 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

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N2 - This paper develops and assesses empirically a simple model of firms’ optimal decision regarding working hours, where productivity varies with hours and where the firm faces quasi‐fixed labour costs. Using Belgian firm‐level data on production, labour costs, workers, and hours, and focusing on the estimation of elasticities along the isoquant and the isocost, we find evidence of not only declining productivity of hours but also of quasi‐fixed labour costs in the range of 20 per cent of total labour costs. The tentative conclusion is that firms facing such costs are enticed to raise working hours, even if this results in lower productivity.

AB - This paper develops and assesses empirically a simple model of firms’ optimal decision regarding working hours, where productivity varies with hours and where the firm faces quasi‐fixed labour costs. Using Belgian firm‐level data on production, labour costs, workers, and hours, and focusing on the estimation of elasticities along the isoquant and the isocost, we find evidence of not only declining productivity of hours but also of quasi‐fixed labour costs in the range of 20 per cent of total labour costs. The tentative conclusion is that firms facing such costs are enticed to raise working hours, even if this results in lower productivity.

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Long Working Hours Make Us Less Productive but Also Less Costly

Résumé

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Autres fichiers et liens

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Projets

Marché du travail et marchés financiers: Causes du taux de chômage élevé et persistant après les crises financières sous différentes configurations institutionnelles.

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