Advertising and labour supply: why do Americans work such long hours?

Abstract

Americans are working much longer hours in the paid labour market than workers in Western Europe. Much of the debate focuses on whether this is the result of voluntary worker choice or whether this is a decision imposed on workers by their employers. This paper shows that American hours of work have become more or less stabilised as a result of the rising intensity of advertising in the U.S. : advertising may raise the desired amount of marketed goods and services for which workers find it necessary to work long hours