Work Less, Play More, Live Longer
Thanks free-market entrepreneurial capitalism for the great life.
Nobel laureate economist Robert Fogel noted in his 2000 book The Fourth Great Awakening and the Future of Egalitarianism that work hours were falling and leisure hours were increasing. Fogel used the term “discretionary hours” to refer to time beyond sleep, meals, and hygiene. These discretionary hours are available for work, leisure, and other activities. Work hours included paid work, travel time to and from work, and household chores. Fogel's research focused on how the balance between work and leisure has shifted over time, particularly in the 20th century, due to factors like technological advancements and increased productivity. He projected that by 2040, lifetime leisure hours would be triple the number of lifetime working hours. In 1880 leisure hours represented 19 percent of discretionary time. In 1995 they had increased to 59 percent. By 2040 they are expected to be 76 percent. Nice.
People can also devote their leisure hours to creating and discovering new knowledge. As this new knowledge is shared with others, it has a compounding effect. More knowledge means more knowledge as long as people have the time and freedom to pursue their curiosities.
Tip of the Hat: Chris Freiman
Learn more about our infinitely bountiful planet at superabundance.com. We explain and give hundreds of examples why more people with freedom means much more resource abundances for everyone in our book, Superabundance, available at Amazon.
Gale Pooley is a Senior Fellow at the Discovery Institute, an Adjunct Scholar at the Cato Institute, and a board member at Human Progress.
Interpreting this could already bit a bit tricky to calculate and will become more so in the future. The reason is that many people who no longer need to work -- having built up sufficient wealth to draw on indefinitely -- may nevertheless choose to "work" because they find it engaging, perhaps more so than activities labeled as "leisure." In other words, progress in gaining leisure time could be understated.
Consumerism is a result of this increase in leisure time.
Consumerism gets a bad rap, but it’s only possible in a world where people have enough income and time to spend on things that (other people think) do not matter.
It might bring some shallowness and “keeping up with the Jones” type of behaviors, but if the alternative is working from dawn to dusk every day to barely stay alive, I’ll take consumerism and be thankful for it.