Is a five-day workweek followed by a two-day weekend a socially optimal schedule? This seminar presents a model in which both labour productivity and the marginal utility of leisure evolve endogenously over the workweek. Labour productivity is shaped by two forces: restfulness, which decreases over the workweek, and memory, which improves over the workweek. The structural parameters of the model are disciplined using daily variation in electricity usage per worker. The results find by Maya suggest that increases in the ratio of vacation to workdays lead to output losses. A calibration of the model suggests that a 2-3 day workweek followed by a 1 day weekend can increase welfare.

Maya Eden is an economist in the Macroeconomics and Growth Team of the Development Economics Research Group at the World Bank. She joined the group in August 2011, after completing a PhD in economics at MIT. Her research interests include international finance and macroeconomics. In addition to her work at the World Bank, she is also a part-time visiting scholar at the Office of Financial Research of the United States Treasury.

The CAMA Macroeconomics Brown Bag Seminars offer CAMA speakers, in particular PhD students, an opportunity to present their work in progress in front of their peers, and reputable visitors to showcase their work.