Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/150669 
Authors: 
Year of Publication: 
2008
Series/Report no.: 
SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research No. 121
Publisher: 
Deutsches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung (DIW), Berlin
Abstract: 
This paper sets out to provide an understanding of how individuals form their preferences over the extent of their paid work involvement - their working time preferences - in different work environments and societal contexts. The main objective of the empirical analysis is to investigate how preferences of this kind are constructed at the individual level and adapted over time following changes in work- and familyrelated circumstances. The consideration of the Old and New Länder of Germany as cases for comparative analysis allows for a test of common factors in different contexts of economic conditions and gender relations. The empirical findings from a longitudinal analysis of the German Socio-Economic Panel (1993-2003) run counter to the predictions of neoclassical labour supply theory. This owes to a fundamental difference in terms of theoretical approach. While (most) economists tend to view paid work in instrumental terms - as something that people perform only for its monetary rewards, this study takes account of intrinsic work rewards as central determinants of work motivation. We find the qualitative experience of work to exert an independent influence on individuals' preferences over work hours, and therefore argue for the inclusion of work quality as a central factor in labour supply decisions.
Subjects: 
Labour
labour supply
working hours
preferences
panel data analysis
JEL: 
J1
J22
J17
C23
D1
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size
334.75 kB





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.