Working Paper: CEPR ID: DP3373
Authors: Giacomo Corneo
Abstract: Nowadays, people in OECD countries spend about as much time watching television as earning a living. In this Paper I report a puzzling fact about those time uses: television viewing and work hours are positively correlated across countries. A simple model based on complementarities in the organization of free time is then developed that explains such a pattern as resulting from multiple equilibria. All equilibria can be inversely Pareto-ranked by their amount of television viewing. Arguments are offered to explain why some countries may have settled in a Pareto-inferior equilibrium.
Keywords: relational goods; television viewing; work hours
JEL Codes: D10; H00; J20
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| television viewing (L96) | work hours (J22) |
| work hours (J22) | television viewing (L96) |