Labor Hours in the U.S. and Europe - the Role of Different Preferences Towards Leisure

Since 1950, the quantity of working hours has been decreasing over time both in the U.S. and in the main European economies. The European economies have started this mutual decline process with longer working hours than in the U.S., but have ended it with less working hours than the U.S. This article presents a model in which this dynamic pattern for the joint dynamics of their working hours is shared by two economies that differ only in the weight that their individuals put on leisure in their utility function and are identical in every other respect.