Loafing or learning?—the demand for informal education

Abstract

Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. Terms of use: Documents in Loafing or Learning? The Demand for Informal EducationRené Fahr The Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in Bonn is a local and virtual international research center and a place of communication between science, politics and business. IZA is an independent, nonprofit limited liability company (Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung) supported by Deutsche Post World Net. The center is associated with the University of Bonn and offers a stimulating research environment through its research networks, research support, and visitors and doctoral programs. IZA engages in (i) original and internationally competitive research in all fields of labor economics, (ii) development of policy concepts, and (iii) dissemination of research results and concepts to the interested public. The current research program deals with (1) mobility and flexibility of labor, (2) internationalization of labor markets, (3) welfare state and labor market, (4) labor markets in transition countries, (5) the future of labor, (6) evaluation of labor market policies and projects and (7) general labor economics. D I S C U S S I O N P A P E R S E R I E SIZA Discussion Papers often represent preliminary work and are circulated to encourage discussion. Citation of such a paper should account for its provisional character. A revised version may be available on the IZA website (www.iza.org) or directly from the author. Using detailed time use data for Germany a positive correlation is found between the level of schooling education and time investments in informal education. Two hypotheses explain this observation: (1) highly educated people have higher opportunity costs of their leisure time and thus prefer leisure activities which add to their market productivity (wage effect) and (2) highly educated people have a preference for 'high quality' leisure (taste effect). The demand for informal education is derived in a household production model accounting for both explanations. An empirical investigation finds evidence for both effects with the taste effect being the more important effect. Highly educated people accumulate human capital through their specific leisure time use. This increases the skill-gap between higher and lower educated people.JEL Classification: C24, D13, J22, J24

Participation in lifelong learning in Portugal and the UK

“…In addition, they used the European Community Household Panel (ECHP), which focuses on 'vocational training' and is therefore arguably more ambiguous than the question posed in the LFS. Using German data, Fahr (2005) limited her concern to males working full-time who were either married or cohabiting and examined only informal learning. Brunello (2003), also using the ECHP, looked at those in paid employment who worked more than 15 and less than 60 hours per week.…”

“…19 Fahr (2005) represents an interesting attempt to distinguish between purely economic and taste effects in the seemingly greater demand for adult learning by the more highly educated and concludes, with additional support from a sample restricted to the retired, that the latter are more important. In attempting to explore the impact of prior learning on LLL participation, it might be noted that the Portuguese and UK LFSs structure their questions on highest completed level of education very differently.…”

Time Preference and Time Use: Do Smokers Exercise Less?

“…(1997), using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, showed that smokers have substantially less education than non‐smokers. Recently, using detailed time‐use data for Germany, Fahr (2005) found a positive correlation between the level of schooling and time investments in informal education, 7 independent of wage effect, and concluded that it reflects taste effects, which include time preference.…”

“…Since the seminal paper by Becker (1965) on the allocation of time in non‐work activities, many economists have improved our understanding of various components of non‐market time use, such as housework, child care, sports, sleeping, informal education, and eating (Biddle and Hamermesh, 1990; Fahr, 2005; Hamermesh, 2007; Koorman and Kapteyn, 1987). However, due to a lack of data, no paper has yet incorporated time preference into the analysis of non‐market time use.…”

“…7 7 Fahr (2005, p. 77) defined informal education as all educational activities that take place after work time and serve the current job in only a minor way. In another definition, she also included all sorts of (non‐fiction) reading activities in informal education. …”