And all would be like before, only with half the working hours? After all, if it's a free market economy, prices depend on buying power. If it is being lowered in a controlled, worldwide, simultaneous, action by 50%, so will, eventually, the prices, and we will be living in a society where people don't drop dead with heart attacks aged 38.
Do you get my spin on this?
Would you happen to know if there is literature available on this?
Surely, I can't be the first to have such an idea (the Arab world practices a 6-hour workingday limit, at least in Saudi Arabia).
2006-12-27 06:21:12 · 10 answers · asked by Tahini Classic 7 in Social Science ➔ Economics
Working half-time means producing half of what you otherwise would. So no, all would not be like before. You'd have to live in a half-house, drive a half-car and see a half-doctor for your heart problem...
2006-12-27 13:46:41 · answer #1 · answered by NC 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well if doctors left their clinics at noon a lot of sick people would not get treated. If farmers only farmed half their land then a lot more people would starve to death becuase there would be much less food in existence. If policeman and firemen only worked half as many hours, there would be a lot more crime and a lot more buildings burning down. You certainly wouldn't be using the Internet like you are now -- the people who created the Internet and computers and the telecom networks would have been so unproductive that none of those things would exist.
So yes, the economy would "adjust" -- it would adjust to producing half the output, and as a result we'd all be a lot poorer and worse off. It's telling that you use the Arab world as a model, because except for the oil lottery that they won by sheer luck, Arabs have given the rest of the world absolutely nothing of value in 1,000 years. In all your philosophizing did it actually not occur to you that the point of a "job" is to produce things that people need?
2006-12-27 18:49:22 · answer #2 · answered by KevinStud99 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Yes I believe so. It is cheaper for companies to have workers work longer hours than to hire more workers. This is one fo the reasons that our economy is in such bad shape. In the 1940's, during WWII, companies realized that they could get the same amount of production (in most jobs) from a woman and pay them much less. This progressed to the point where about 65% of the jobs are now held by women, who still earn less than their male counterparts. This leads to a reduction in family income, more people out of work (because the workforce has doubled without consumer demand following suit. Some families are able to have both husband and wife work while in other, neither are able to find a job.
I am all for reducing the work hours and putting more people to work. The impact on the economic status of the family would not change but they would be more people with jobs and more leisure time. People in the US put the most time in at work than any other country.
2006-12-27 14:52:13 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Never happen. With a free enterprise, some one will figure that if they work 51% they will make more money, then the next guy will want to work 52% to make even more money and so on. Free markets are why we enjoy the standard of living that we do and the Arab states are "Ipso re loqitor."
2006-12-27 14:28:25 · answer #4 · answered by Vizzini 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
So how is 'working day' defined? In Silicon Valley myself and many folks I know work 60+ hour weeks. The motivated folks are always going to work harder than the average. Also, there is no harm is working a "full day". The key is to do what you love and don't worry about the money, it will follow.
2006-12-27 14:30:34 · answer #5 · answered by marccrotty 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Surely a better idea would be to get rid of the economics in the equation of life altogether?
2006-12-27 17:50:23 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
what ever hours we choose to work would be fine if every one were compelled to do the same. we would also have employment for everyone.
There is, of course the factor of human greed, and it would not be long before some people started doing extra hours for more money.
2006-12-27 14:28:23 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
interesting theory, If this was a doable plan, it would not keep people dropping dead at the age of 38.
2006-12-27 14:29:29 · answer #8 · answered by trawet 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It would be the same as now.
Most people only do half of a job for a day's pay.
2006-12-27 14:23:27 · answer #9 · answered by MЯ BAIT™ 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
,Thai would be called equal opportunity act
2007-01-02 22:35:10 · answer #10 · answered by dorothy u 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋