Since 1965, the average amount of leisure time for men has increased by 8 hours per week. That's like an extra 9 weeks of vacation per year. For women, the average increase in leisure has been 6 hours per week. Over the same period of time, the average wage for men and women has increased.
a) What does this tell us about the income elasticity of leisure?
b) It turns out that the increase in leisure is much larger for low wage men and women than for high wage men and women. What does this tell us about the different income effects for leisure?
c) Over the same period there has been a widening of the income distribution; that is; "the rich are getting richer", and the poor are not keeping up. However, since leisure is a "good," why is this unfairness in the spread of income mitigated by the change in leisure time?
Since 1965, the average amount of leisure time for men has increased by 8 hours per week. That's like an extra 9 weeks of vacation per year. For women, the average increase in leisure has been 6 hours per week. Over the same period of time, the average wage for men and women has increased.
a) What does this tell us about the income elasticity of leisure?
b) It turns out that the increase in leisure is much larger for low wage men and women than for high wage men and women. What does this tell us about the different income effects for leisure?
c) Over the same period there has been a widening of the income distribution; that is; "the rich are getting richer", and the poor are not keeping up. However, since leisure is a "good," why is this unfairness in the spread of income mitigated by the change in leisure time?
Related textbook solutions
Related questions
1. Because many men traditionally have not produced a lot of household commodities
| a. | they are more likely to reduce hours of work after a decrease in their wage rate |
| b. their income effect is likely to be smaller than that of women |
| c. they can more easily substitute leisure for household production |
| d. | they are less likely to reduce hours of work after a decrease in their wage rate |
2. One of the main changes in the typical family in the United States over the past 30-40 years has been
| a. non-marital births have decreased appreciably |
| b. marriage has declined while cohabitation has risen |
| c. single-parent families have fallen considerably |
| d. median age at first marriage has decreased |
3. A single mother is currently paying childcare cost of $10 an hour and she works 8 hours a day. The government then decides to provides child care at a constant $80 a day. The effect of this event will be to:
| a. cause the mother to work more hours |
| b. cause the mother to work less hours |
| c. cannot tell without knowing which effect dominates: the income or substitution effect |
| d. cause the mother to work the same hours |
4. Which statement correctly describes the relationship between Marriage and Poverty?
| a. poverty as a whole can be solved by people just having children |
| b. Children who grow up in a dual parent household are significantly more likely to experience poverty |
| c. Children who grow up in a dual parent household are significantly less likely to experience poverty |
| d. poverty as a whole can be solved by people just staying married |
5. The real determining "discriminatory" factor in higher education today is
| a. | "out of state" status |
| b. | race |
| c. income |
| d. gender |
