Macroeconomics Seminar - Nicola Fuchs-Schundeln (Goethe University Frankfurt)

Title: "Hours Worked Across and Within Countries" with Alexander Bick, David Lagakos and Hitoshi Tsujiyama

Abstract: Based on a new internationally comparable data base of hours worked, we document that average hours worked per adult are substantially higher in low-income countries than in high-income countries. Within countries, hours worked per employed are also decreasing in the individual wage for most countries, though in the richest countries, hours worked are flat or increasing in the wage. We build a macroeconomic model featuring strong income effects and a welfare state in order to investigate the driving forces of these facts across and within countries.