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Abstract:
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Economists have rejected the popular view that time use is primarily influenced by local customs and law , and instead argue that it is determined by optimal choices of economic agents and the market mechanism . However the analysis of time allocation has been focused on the labor -leisure choice problem which posits a worker who wants more leisure because of his preference for leisure over work . Thus going beyond the standard model , these essays add to the theory of the economics of time use . First I examine why married men earn more . I explore the possibility that differences in household work by marital status can explain the observed male marital wages advantage . Depending on the type and timing of household work , I segregate it into flexible and inflexible household work , using the American Time Use Survey . Empirical results provide strong support for the productivity difference between married and never married men . Household work has significant negative and differential effects on wages . The effects are not only driven by total time spent on household work , but also by types and timing of household work . The result shows that inflexible household work has a stronger negative effect on wages than flexible household work . Second I study how taxes affect time and goods allocation in home production . I claim that an increase in sales taxes encourages households to substitute away from the market goods input in favor of untaxed non -market time input . I explore the substitution response by relating household market purchases and time use . The theory part shows that the size of elasticity of substitution between market goods input and time input is crucial for understanding the government's optimal tax policy . Then I show that it is optimal to impose lower taxes on goods used in the production of commodities with a higher elasticity of substitution . In the empirical part , I estimate sizes of elasticities of substitution of goods for time with the combined survey of Mexican household consumption expenditures and time allocation for 2002 . I find that the elasticity of substitution for 'Eating' is lowest . Finally wage compensation for climate is examined . Using the Merged Outgoing Rotation Group File from 2002 to 2007 , I find that the North -South wage differential in construction and extraction occupations is much higher than in any other occupations . I claim that this is because weather affects wage determination . If individuals are to locate in both desirable and undesirable locations , undesirable locations must offer higher wages . Using the O*NET database , I obtain information on how often an occupation requires exposure to weather conditions . Estimation results of the wage equation show that wage compensation for living in bad weather amounts to 11 .9 percent of hourly wages evaluated at sample means . The difference in wage compensation for working in bad weather between the most exposed (outdoorness index = 5 ) and least exposed (outdoorness index = 0 ) occupations is estimated to be 9 .6 percent of hourly wages evaluated at sample means . In addition , I find that the occupational injury risk is related to weather conditions in the case of construction and extraction occupations . |