Author Topic: The Affluent Economy  (Read 7177 times)

darkelenchus

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The Affluent Economy
« on: February 24, 2013, 07:12:34 AM »
Interesting piece on The Breakthrough Institute website entitled The Affluent Economy. Here's a sampling relevant to this community:
Quote
As living standards rise, workers might choose to continue putting in the same amount of work and reaping higher incomes, but more likely they will choose to cut back their work hours. Doing so would be consistent with the steady increase in leisure time enjoyed by American workers over the last century. Nobel laureate Robert Fogel projects that the decline in hours worked in the 45 years from 1995 to 2040 will exceed in percentage terms the decline over the 115 years from 1880 to 1995.15 Based on historical patterns, he projects a 30-hour workweek in 2040 and continued declines in the typical retirement age. Writing in 2000, he noted that the fraction of American men aged 60 to 64 that were in the labor force had declined from close to 100 percent in 1880 to 50 percent.

...

15. Robert W. Fogel (2000), The Fourth Great Awakening and the Future of Egalitarianism (Chicago: University of Chicago Press).  See Chapter 5.


arebelspy

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Re: The Affluent Economy
« Reply #1 on: February 24, 2013, 11:18:05 AM »
Given how current increases in productivity has lead to more consumption, rather than less work hours and the same consumption, I'd imagine more of the same will happen.

On the other hand, that's what makes it so easy for a Mustachian to ER: we can work those hours, not buy into the consumerism, save the bulk of that income, and then be FI very quickly.
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DebtDerp

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Re: The Affluent Economy
« Reply #2 on: February 25, 2013, 03:18:35 PM »
This is very interesting. Obviously most companies do not follow this mindset. However, would you rather work 20 hours each week and retire after 20+ years or work 40+ hours per week and retire in under 10 years? It is an interesting question.

smalllife

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Re: The Affluent Economy
« Reply #3 on: February 25, 2013, 04:19:36 PM »
I for the life of me could not think of the economist who predicted this exact scenario at the turn of the Industrial Revolution, but needless to say I doubt it will be come a reality.  It would be wonderful if it could, but I do not think the powers that be would welcome a worldwide enlightenment about working hours and consumption patterns.

plantingourpennies

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Re: The Affluent Economy
« Reply #4 on: February 25, 2013, 06:24:51 PM »

smalllife

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Re: The Affluent Economy
« Reply #5 on: February 25, 2013, 06:33:30 PM »

Jamesqf

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Re: The Affluent Economy
« Reply #6 on: February 26, 2013, 12:24:50 PM »
However, would you rather work 20 hours each week and retire after 20+ years or work 40+ hours per week and retire in under 10 years? It is an interesting question.

My preference would be 32/32: 32 hours a week, 32 weeks of the year.  And never actually retire, just find increasingly enjoyable ways to "work".

darkelenchus

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Re: The Affluent Economy
« Reply #7 on: March 03, 2013, 11:55:54 AM »
However, would you rather work 20 hours each week and retire after 20+ years or work 40+ hours per week and retire in under 10 years? It is an interesting question.

My preference would be 32/32: 32 hours a week, 32 weeks of the year.  And never actually retire, just find increasingly enjoyable ways to "work".

I'm close to this already, to a certain extent ( I do work on essays for publication during the summer months).

Nords

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Re: The Affluent Economy
« Reply #8 on: March 03, 2013, 01:44:00 PM »
However, would you rather work 20 hours each week and retire after 20+ years or work 40+ hours per week and retire in under 10 years? It is an interesting question.
Or have two spouses each work 40-hour weeks for 20 years, and then both of them retire?

Jamesqf

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Re: The Affluent Economy
« Reply #9 on: March 03, 2013, 05:35:48 PM »
Or have two spouses each work 40-hour weeks for 20 years, and then both of them retire?

Yeah, so tell me how I manage to get two spouses - simultaneous, not consecutive! - in this country :-)

GuitarStv

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Re: The Affluent Economy
« Reply #10 on: March 04, 2013, 09:56:24 AM »
Or have two spouses each work 40-hour weeks for 20 years, and then both of them retire?

Yeah, so tell me how I manage to get two spouses - simultaneous, not consecutive! - in this country :-)

Utah?

Jamesqf

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Re: The Affluent Economy
« Reply #11 on: March 04, 2013, 11:53:07 AM »
Utah?

That might enable me to keep them if I ever got them, but isn't much help in the actual getting :-)

arebelspy

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Re: The Affluent Economy
« Reply #12 on: March 04, 2013, 12:48:01 PM »
Money.

But sort of a catch-22 if you need the two wives to earn the money.  ;)

EDIT: For those not clear, this post is a joke, not a slam on women. Thanks.
I am a former teacher who accumulated a bunch of real estate, retired at 29, spent some time traveling the world full time and am now settled with three kids.
If you want to know more about me, this Business Insider profile tells the story pretty well.
I (rarely) blog at AdventuringAlong.com. Check out the Now page to see what I'm up to currently.

Rekreativc

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Re: The Affluent Economy
« Reply #13 on: March 07, 2013, 05:43:26 AM »
The end of work by Jeremy Rifkin is a fascinating read that touches heavily on this topic. In the second edition (which is still quite old, 1995 I think) it even reports that some countries have given up on the standard 40 hour work week and are moving towards a shorter work week, thus forcing the companies to hire more workers.

Personally I love the idea that we would work less, however as was already mentioned in this topic, I am torn between working 40 hours and retiring early, or work 20 hours and work for a lot longer time...