TY - UNPB

T1 - Keeping in touch

T2 - a benefit of public holidays

AU - Merz, Joachim

AU - Osberg , Lars

N1 - Zsfassung in dt. Sprache

PY - 2006

Y1 - 2006

N2 - This paper argues that public holidays facilitate the co-ordination of leisure time but do not constrain the annual amount of leisure. Public holidays therefore have benefits both in the utility of leisure on holidays and (by enabling people to maintain social contacts more easily) in increasing the utility of leisure on normal weekdays and weekends. The paper uses the variation (13 to 17) in public holidays across German Länder and the German Time Use Survey of 2001-02 to show that public holidays have beneficial impacts on social life on normal weekdays and weekends. Since these benefits are additional to the other benefits of holidays, it suggests that there is a case to be made for more public holidays.

AB - This paper argues that public holidays facilitate the co-ordination of leisure time but do not constrain the annual amount of leisure. Public holidays therefore have benefits both in the utility of leisure on holidays and (by enabling people to maintain social contacts more easily) in increasing the utility of leisure on normal weekdays and weekends. The paper uses the variation (13 to 17) in public holidays across German Länder and the German Time Use Survey of 2001-02 to show that public holidays have beneficial impacts on social life on normal weekdays and weekends. Since these benefits are additional to the other benefits of holidays, it suggests that there is a case to be made for more public holidays.

KW - Economics

KW - public holidays

KW - social contacts

KW - social leisure time

KW - time allocation

KW - time use dairies

KW - German Time Budget Survey 2001/02

KW - Gender and Diversity

M3 - Working papers

T3 - Diskussionspapier

BT - Keeping in touch

PB - Forschungsinstitut Freie Berufe

CY - Lüneburg

ER -