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Time Use and Productivity: The Wage Returns to Sleep

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Abstract
We investigate the productivity effects of the single largest use of time - sleep. Using time use diaries from the United States, we demonstrate that later sunset time reduces worker sleep and wages. Sunset time one hour later decreases short-run wages by 0.5% and long-run wages by 4.5%. After investigating this relationship and ruling out alternative hypotheses, we implement an instrumental variables specification that provides the first causal estimates of the impact of sleep on wages. A one-hour increase in average weekly sleep increases wages by 1.5% in the short run and by 4.9% in the long run.

Suggested Citation

  • Matthew Gibson & Jeffrey Shrader, 2015. "Time Use and Productivity: The Wage Returns to Sleep," Department of Economics Working Papers 2015-17, Department of Economics, Williams College.
    • Handle: RePEc:wil:wileco:2015-17
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    Blog mentions

    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. Sleep deprivation, even when moderate, hurts employment
      by ? in LSE Business Review on 2017-04-06 06:00:00
    2. Why a Standard Time Activist Thinks Losing an Hour is Actually a Big Deal
      by ? in Slate Blogs on 2021-03-15 22:31:05

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    Cited by:

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    3. Osea Giuntella & Wei Han & Fabrizio Mazzonna, 2017. "Circadian Rhythms, Sleep, and Cognitive Skills: Evidence From an Unsleeping Giant," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 54(5), pages 1715-1742, October.
    4. Giuntella, Osea & Mazzonna, Fabrizio, 2019. "Sunset time and the economic effects of social jetlag: evidence from US time zone borders," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 210-226.
    5. Sedigh, Golnaz & Devlin, Rose Anne & Grenier, Gilles & Deri Armstrong, Catherine, 2017. "Revisiting the relationship between wages and sleep duration: The role of insomnia," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 125-139.
    6. Giuntella, Osea & Lonsky, Jakub & Mazzonna, Fabrizio & Stella, Luca, 2021. "Immigration policy and immigrants’ sleep. Evidence from DACA," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 182(C), pages 1-12.
    7. Marcus T. Wolfe & Pankaj C. Patel, 0. "I will sleep when I am dead? Sleep and self-employment," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 0, pages 1-17.
    8. Jara-Díaz, Sergio R. & Rosales-Salas, Jorge, 2020. "Time use: The role of sleep," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 1-20.
    9. Osea Giuntella & Fabrizio Mazzonna, 2015. "If You Don’t Snooze You Lose Health and Gain Weight Evidence from a Regression Discontinuity Design," IdEP Economic Papers 1505, USI Università della Svizzera italiana.
    10. Andrew E. Clark & Elena Stancanelli, 2016. "Individual Well-Being and the Allocation of Time Before and After the Boston Marathon Terrorist Bombing," PSE Working Papers hal-01302843, HAL.
    11. Costa-Font, Joan & Flèche, Sarah, 2017. "Parental sleep and employment: evidence from a British cohort study," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 69530, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    12. Jin, L. & Ziebarth, N.R., 2015. "Sleep and Human Capital: Evidence from Daylight Saving Time," Health, Econometrics and Data Group (HEDG) Working Papers 15/27, HEDG, c/o Department of Economics, University of York.
    13. Herber, Stefanie P. & Quis, Johanna Sophie & Heineck, Guido, 2017. "Does the transition into daylight saving time affect students’ performance?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 130-139.
    14. Marcus T. Wolfe & Pankaj C. Patel, 2020. "I will sleep when I am dead? Sleep and self-employment," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 55(4), pages 901-917, December.
    15. Joan Costa-Font & Sarah Flèche, 2018. "Child Sleep and Maternal Labour Market Outcomes [Discussion Paper Series]," Working Papers halshs-03204629, HAL.
    16. Craig Tutterow & Guillaume Saint-Jacques, 2019. "Estimating Network Effects Using Naturally Occurring Peer Notification Queue Counterfactuals," Papers 1902.07133, arXiv.org.
    17. Zachary Breig & Matthew Gibson & Jeffrey Shrader, 2019. "Why Do We Procrastinate? Present Bias and Optimism," Department of Economics Working Papers 2019-15, Department of Economics, Williams College.
    18. Giuntella, Osea & Mazzonna, Fabrizio, 2016. "If You Don't Snooze You Lose: Evidence on Health and Weight," IZA Discussion Papers 9773, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    19. Lusher, Lester & Yasenov, Vasil & Luong, Phuc, 2019. "Does schedule irregularity affect productivity? Evidence from random assignment into college classes," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 115-128.
    20. Cardon, James H. & Eide, Eric R. & Phillips, Kerk L. & Showalter, Mark H., 2018. "A model of sleep, leisure and work over the business cycle," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 19-36.
    21. Yi Fan & Diana M. Weinhold, 2022. "Urban noise, sleep disruption and health," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 54(50), pages 5782-5799, October.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials

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