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How Does Leisure Time Affect Production Efficiency? Evidence from China, Japan, and the US

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Abstract

Labor efficiency is a central concept in economics. Although investigators have studied the influence of some variables (e.g., education time and physical capital) on labor efficiency, most studies overlook the impact of leisure time. This investigation examines the relationship between leisure time and labor efficiency in the world’s three largest economies: China, the US and Japan. Results revealed a significant correlation between leisure time and labor efficiency, and demonstrate that active leisure participation can improve productivity. The findings also demonstrate that, in contrast to the US and Japan, China, as a typical developing country, has seldom seen an apparent positive effect of leisure time on efficiency, which may partially explained by the type of leisure participation (active or passive).

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Notes

  1. Qualified leisure refers to the leisure time that can be influenced by human capital (Ortigueira 2000).

  2. Human capital refers to the stock of competencies, knowledge, creativity, social attributes, and personality that are embodied in the ability to produce economic value (Simkovic 2012).

  3. Working memory efficiency refers to the ability (i.e., speed, scale, and level) in brain metabolism responses. Please see the working memory assessment in Ruiz-Contreras et al. (2012, p. 92).

  4. Throughout the paper, the capital letters denote total amount and the lower-case letters denote per-capita amount, unless otherwise specified.

  5. Statistically, the problem of serial correlation could be ignored in the statistical experience if Durbin-Watson test statistics are significantly greater than 1.5 and less than 2.5 (Durbin and Watson 1971).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. International Studies University, National School of Development, Peking University, Beijing, People’s Republic of China

    Xiang Wei

  2. Regents Professor and William E. Davis Distinguished Chair, School of Hotel and Restaurant Administration, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK, 74078, USA

    Hailin Qu

  3. Business School, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China

    Hailin Qu

  4. Office 0.27, N72 Business 2, School of Tourism, Leisure, Hotel and Sport Management, Griffith University, Nathan Campus, Nathan, QLD, 4111, Australia

    Emily Ma

  5. China Leisure Economy Research Centre, Beijing, People’s Republic of China

    Xiang Wei

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  1. Xiang Wei
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Correspondence to Emily Ma.

Appendix: Raw data

Appendix: Raw data

See Tables 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8.

Table 4 GDP per capita per hour for China, US and Japan (1980–2011)
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Table 5 Leisure time (hours) per year/person for China, US and Japan (1980–2011)
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Table 6 Education time per year/person for China, US and Japan (1980–2011)
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Table 7 Fixed capital formation per capita for China, US and Japan
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Table 8 Annotations for equations
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Wei, X., Qu, H. & Ma, E. How Does Leisure Time Affect Production Efficiency? Evidence from China, Japan, and the US. Soc Indic Res 127, 101–122 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-015-0962-1

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