Abstract
The subject of this dissertation deals with the individual's allocation of time between market and non-market uses. A theory of the individual's demand for non-market time is the focus of chapter three. The individual produces all consumption items himself by combining goods purchased in the market with non-market time. Total time is assumed to be exhausted by the sum of the following: time sold in the market for which the individual receives a wage; transactions time associated with purchases; transactions time associated with selling labor time and non-market time. A demand function for non-market time is generated in the traditional way, where the individual faces time and income constraints and where taxes are imposed upon the individual's market income and expenditures. Changes in the optimum amount of non-market time with respect to the parameters of the model are determined. This theoretical framework is then employed to study how individuals decide upon what proportion of their time to spend in market and non-market production and what proportion of their consumption bundle will be self-produced. The inclusion of transactions time associated with labor time and transactions time associated with purchases is shown to result in implications for individual behavior which are obscured in the usual labor-leisure model. Additionally, welfare implications of the imposition of an income tax and a sales tax on the individual's demand for non-market time are derived. It is shown that both an income tax and a sales tax distort the individual's optimal allocation of time between market and non-market production. In chapter four the theoretical model is used to analyze some recent empirical studies. Additionally, a tentative empirical note is offered. The major conclusion derived from the study is that a better understanding of individual behavior results when transactions time is included in the model. When total time is assumed to be exhausted by labor time and leisure time, important economic choices open to the individual are obscured.
Ballard, Raymond J. (1974). The demand for non-market time. Texas A&M University. Texas A&M University. Libraries. Available electronically from
https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /DISSERTATIONS -213397.