December 29, 2008
POINTLESS TELLING FOLKS WHO DON'T DO MUCH TO SLOW DOWN:
Why Not Start Your Weekend on Wednesday?:
There's no need to preach the gospel of leisure. Most of us work less than our parents did. (Tim Harford, Dec. 27, 2008, Slate)
We earn—this is a very rough average—twice what our parents did when they were our age. When today's teenagers are in their 40s, there is no reason why they shouldn't decide to enjoy their increased prosperity by working less instead of earning more. Rather than being twice as rich as their parents, they could be no richer but start their weekends on Wednesday afternoon. [...]Posted by Orrin Judd at December 29, 2008 7:54 AMThe other part is that we do have more leisure. According to economists Mark Aguiar and Erik Hurst, leisure time for women has increased by at least four hours a week since 1965. Men have done even better. That may well understate the leisure gains. A hundred years ago, many people would start working at the age of 10 or 12 and work until they died. Now it is common to spend fewer than half our years working; the rest of the time we spend studying, traveling, and in retirement.
The "work less, spend less" movement is winning. It's a shame it hasn't noticed.
