BY: GIACOMO CORNEO
Universitaet Osnabrueck
CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo
Institute for Economic Research)
Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)
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Paper ID: IZA Discussion Paper No. 376
Date: October 2001
Contact: GIACOMO CORNEO
Email: Mailto:gcorneo at oec.uni-osnabrueck.de
Postal: Universitaet Osnabrueck
Rolanstrasse 8
D-49069 Osnabrueck, GERMANY
Phone: +49 541 969 2730
Fax: +49 541 969 2722
Paper Requests:
Contact: Mark Fallak, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA),
P.O. Box 7240, D-53072 Bonn, Germany. Phone:+49-228-3894-0 ext.
223. Fax:+ 49-228-3894-510. Mailto:Fallak at iza.org
ABSTRACT:
Evidence from a sample of countries show that people roughly
spend as much time watching television as earning their living.
Moreover, television viewing and work hours are positively
correlated across countries. A simple model based on
complementarities in the organization of free time is developed
that explains such a pattern as resulting from multiple
equilibria. In this model the equilibria can be inversely
Pareto-ranked by their amount of television viewing. Arguments
are offered to explain why in some countries a Pareto-inferior
equilibrium might have come into being.
Keywords: Television Viewing, Work Hours, Relational Goods