Keeping in Touch – A Benefit of Public Holidays

Merz, Joachim and Osberg, Lars (2006): Keeping in Touch – A Benefit of Public Holidays.

Abstract

This paper argues that public holidays facilitate the co-ordination of leisure time but do not constrain the annual amount of leisure. Public holidays therefore have benefits both in the utility of leisure on holidays and (by enabling people to maintain social contacts more easily) in increasing the utility of leisure on normal weekdays and weekends. The paper uses the variation (13 to 17) in public holidays across German Länder and the German Time Use Survey of 2001-02 to show that public holidays have beneficial impacts on social life on normal weekdays and weekends. Since these benefits are additional to the other benefits of holidays, it suggests that there is a case to be made for more public holidays.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: public holidays, social contacts, social leisure time, time allocation, time use diaries
• Subjects: H - Public Economics > H4 - Publicly Provided Goods > H40 - General; I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I3 - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty > I31 - General Welfare, Well-Being; J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J2 - Demand and Supply of Labor > J22 - Time Allocation and Labor Supply; Z - Other Special Topics > Z1 - Cultural Economics ; Economic Sociology ; Economic Anthropology > Z13 - Economic Sociology ; Economic Anthropology ; Social and Economic Stratification

References

Becker, G.S. (1991). A Treatise on the Family. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press. Corneo, G. (2005) “Work and television” European Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 21 . 99– 113. Ermisch, J.F. (2003). The Economics of the Family. Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press. Gratton, C. and P. Taylor (2000). The Economics of Sport and Leisure. London: Spon Press. Hallberg, D. (2003). Synchronous leisure, jointness, and household labor supply. Labour Economics, 10, 185–202. Hamermesh, D. (1996). The timing of work time: evidence from the US and Germany. Konjunkturpolitik, 42, 1–22. Hamermesh, D. (2002). Timing, togetherness and time windfalls. Journal of Population, Economics, 15, 601–623. Jacobsen Joyce P. and P. Kooreman (2005). Timing constraints and the allocation of time: The effects of changing shopping hours regulations in The Netherlands. European Economic Review, 49/1, 9-27 Jenkins, S. and L. Osberg (2005) “Nobody to Play With ? The Implications of Leisure Co-ordination” in The Economics of Time Use, D.S. Hamermesh and G.A. Pfann (Editors) Elsevier B.V.. 113-145. Juster, T. (1985). Changes in work, leisure and well-being for men and women. Paper presented at the 19th General Conference, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, Noordwijkerhout NL. Killingsworth, M. (1983). Labor Supply. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Knight, F.H. (1933). The Economic Organization. Chicago IL: University of Chicago. Knack, S. and P. Keefer, (1997). Does social capital have an economic payoff? A cross-country investigation. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 112, 1251–1288. Merz, J., Böhm, P. and D. Burgert (2005), Timing, Fragmentation of Work and Income Inequality – An Earnings Treatment Effects Approach, FFB-Discussionpaper No. 48, Department of Economics and Social Sciences, University of Lüneburg, Lüneburg. Merz, J. and D. Burgert (2005). Wer arbeitet wann? – Arbeitszeitarrangements von Serlbständigen und abhängig Beschäftigten: Eine mikroökonometrische Analyse deutscher Zeitbudgetdaten, in Perspektiven der MittelstandsForschung – Ökonomische Analysen zu Selbständigkeit, Freien Berufen und KMU, Merz, J. and J. Wagner (Eds.), CREPS-Schriftenreihe Vol. 1, Lit-Verlag. Münster. 303-330. OECD (2001). The Well-being of Nations: The Role of Human and Social Capital. Paris: Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. Osberg, L. (2003a). Understanding growth and inequality trends: the role of labour supply in the U.S.A. and Germany. Canadian Public Policy, 29 (Supplement 1), S163–S183. Osberg, L. (ed.) (2003b). The Economic Implications of Social Cohesion. University of Toronto Press, Toronto. Putnam, R.D. (1993). Making Democracy Work: Civic Traditions in Modern Italy. Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press. Putnam, R.D. (2000). Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of the American Community. New York: Simon and Schuster Publishers. Skuterud, M. (2005). The impact of Sunday shopping on employment and hours of work in the retail industry: Evidence from Canada European Economic Review Volume 49, Issue 8 , November 2005, 1953-1978. Sullivan, O. (1996). Time co-ordination, the domestic division of labour and affective relations: time use and the enjoyment of activities with couples. Sociology, 30, 79–100. Uhlaner, C.J. (1989). “Relational goods” and participation: incorporating sociability into a theory of rational action. Public Choice, 62, 253–285. van Velzen, S. (2001). Supplements to the Economics of Household Behaviour. Tinbergen Institute Research Series No. 242. Amsterdam: University of Amsterdam. Weiss, Y. (1996). Synchronisation of work schedules. International Economic Review, 37, 157–179.