We can never get more time. It goes in one direction and seems to speed up the older we get. Conceptual framings of time span several fields, from physics dealing with speed and motion, to politics in terms of policy cycles and governance term lengths. This post will explore how time and economics intersect. How economics frames time and examine a moral case for leisure time.
Categories of Time
We cannot make more time. Time is distributed more or less equally between individuals – the difference being lifespan. However, if we divide time into categories, the distribution of time between these categories can differ drastically. According to Julie Rose in her book Free Time there are three categories of time:
- Basic Needs Time (BNT): Time you need to survive. Eating, sleeping, commuting, housework.
- Work time (WT): Time spent at work.
- Leisure/Discretionary time (DT): Time to do whatever you want, the time remaining after subtracting BNT and WT.
When we use this framework to investigate how people use their time, we can more clearly see the difference of distributions of time between socioeconomic groups, rather than simply stating the wealthier tend to live longer.
Why are the distributions different?
- Wealthy people can reduce their BNT, so long as that task can be outsourced. E.g. they can hire a chef, but they cannot hire someone to eat on their behalf.
- Wealthy people have more DT, so long as the WT that creates their wealth does not eat into DT.
Dharavi Slums
The Dharavi slums of Mumbai are estimated to contain 0.6 to 1 million people on 535 acres of land. A very high population density. While popular opinion might have you think slums are nothing more than a cesspool of drugs, crime and illness, slums are actually economically productive.
Dharavi acts as the plastic recycling plant for Mumbai. The plastic is sorted by hand in the slums and then melted down into pellets. These pellets are then sold to plastic manufacturers in Mumbai to make new things. This is a very labour-intensive job, and the pay is barely enough to earn a living. However, the productivity of the slums remains. Workers do not receive paid leave, and they work long hours in order to make enough money that they support themselves and their families. This highlights that DT is unnecessary, economically speaking. Thus, leisure time is something to be considered primarily by moral standards.
The Case for Discretionary Time
“[A desirable] society would exhibit…a well-paid and affluent body of labourers…not only exempt from the coarser toils, but with sufficient leisure, both physical and mental, from mechanical details, to cultivate freely the graces of life.”
John Stuart Mill: Principles of Political Economy (1848) book IV, ch.6
Leisure time is the time we ought to use to cultivate our conception of the “good life” and engage in political discourse. Without the time to engage in our less economically profitable passions, we seem to lack something innately human. Likewise, if we cannot engage in politics, then a democracy cannot function effectively. Democracies presuppose a well-informed public who are able to distinguish between good and bad ideas and policies.
Political organisation is also good reason to have DT at the same time as others. Effective political organisation is difficult if action can only be taken in parts, at different times. Also, important to many, is the maintenance of cultural traditions, which more often than not involve social gatherings and celebrations.
There are, of course, always objections. There is a lot more we can do without leaving the home, as enabled by technology. Choosing public holidays may also be controversial since there are disagreements around how history should (or shouldn’t) be celebrated.
However, how does one get this discretionary time if a free market economy has no need for it? Having more money does not enable any of the activities that leisure time does. Thus, freeing more time away from work-time time is not solved by paying workers more.
How Can the Government Help?
There are two main ways the government can help increase citizens’ free time.
- Provide assistance for people to reduce BNT
This may involve subsidising public transport for students, so parents spend less time driving their children around. Or as in America having lunch services at school such that time spent making kids’ lunches by parents is reduced.
- Make it easier for people to reduce WT
Reducing WT may take the form of legislated maximum working week hours e.g. the 38-hour work week. But also, employment laws around paid personal leave, and annual leave.
Assumptions of Today’s Time
Built into the idea that the government can help people obtain more DT is:
- Can easily separate WT and DT
- “Employment” is defined in 20th century terms
Today people are more likely to work from home. It is more difficult to differentiate between WT and DT when this is the case. Is going to the fridge to get a (dairy-free) yoghurt between stints of work DT or WT? And how can an employer even know how much one is working? Even people who do not work from home bring work home. Everyone has a mobile and email so work can cross boundaries into what is normally discretionary time.
The definition of “employment” has also changed. Freelancing is gaining in popularity and there are not very robust employment standards and laws in such employment agreements just yet. Since a freelancer is their own boss, the responsibility is theirs to disperse their own paid (or unpaid) DT.
Why Does This Matter to Me?
Perhaps you work. You feel like you don’t have time to write posts on that blog of yours. You may have been considering a raise so you can reduce some BNT. But maybe now you realise what you’re after is more flexible working hours, or reduced working hours, for less pay of course. What are your priorities? Then, what will actually generate more discretionary time?
