Routine

39 Pages Posted: 11 Jan 2003 Last revised: 19 Oct 2022

See all articles by Daniel S. Hamermesh

Daniel S. Hamermesh

University of Texas at Austin - Department of Economics; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER); IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Date Written: January 2003

Abstract

Routine - maintaining the same schedule from day to day - saves time. It is also boring and inherently undesirable. As such, the amount of routine a person engages in is partly an economic outcome, with variations in routine generated by variations in the price of time, household income and the ability to generate variety. Using time-budget data from Australia, Germany, the Netherlands and the United States, I show that men engage in more routine behavior than women, but only because they spend more time in (routine) market work. Other things equal, more educated people engage in less routine behavior, while higher household incomes enable people to purchase more temporal variety. Spouses' temporal routines are highly complementary. The positive income effects and impacts of schooling indicate yet another avenue by which standard measures of inequality understate total economic inequality.

Suggested Citation

Hamermesh, Daniel S., Routine (January 2003). NBER Working Paper No. w9440, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=368196

Daniel S. Hamermesh (Contact Author)

University of Texas at Austin - Department of Economics ( email )

Austin, TX 78712
United States
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National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

1050 Massachusetts Avenue
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United States

IZA Institute of Labor Economics

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Germany

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