| 刘娜,李静,张川川.被时间束缚的消费：工作时长对居民消费的影响[J].数量经济技术经济研究,2025,(9):29-51 | | 被时间束缚的消费：工作时长对居民消费的影响 | | Time-bound Consumption: The Effects of Working Hours on Residents’ Consumption | | | | DOI： | | 中文关键词: 消费支出 时间约束 工作时长 工时制度调整 | | 英文关键词: Consumption and Expenditure Time Constraints Working Hours Workweek Reduction | | 基金项目: | | | 中文摘要: | | 内需不足是中国经济长期面临的一个问题，其主要原因在于居民消费不足。中国劳动者年均工作时长在世界主要国家中位于前列，“没有时间消费”可能是导致中国居民消费率偏低的原因之一。本文首先在时间分配理论基础上，区分耗时性消费品和非耗时性消费品，从理论层面阐释了工作时长影响消费支出的三种效应：收入效应、替代效应和时间效应。然后利用中国1994年职工工时制度调整这一政策冲击，使用中国健康与营养调查数据和双重差分方法，估计了居民消费支出的工作时间弹性，发现工作时长每减少1%，居民消费支出会显著增加1.59%。最后利用中国家庭金融调查和中国时间利用调查数据展开的机制讨论显示，在总时间资源既定条件下，缩短工作时长可通过增加消费活动时间显著促进居民消费，尤其是促进居民耗时性消费。本文的研究发现为进一步完善中国工时制度和提振居民消费提供了参考。 | | 英文摘要: | | Insufficient domestic demand is a?persistent?challenge for the Chinese economy, primarily stemming from inadequate household consumption. A low household consumption rate not only undermines macroeconomic sustainability but also reflects insufficient conversion of economic growth benefits into improved resident welfare, thereby hindering the attainment of China’s socialist market economy objectives. Although extensive research has examined the causes of China’s consumption deficit, limited attention has been paid to?time allocation constraints?in household consumption decisions. The Beckerian model posits that “consumers integrate time and market goods through ‘production functions’ to generate basic commodities, conventionally optimizing their combination by maximizing a utility function.” China’s?exceptionally long?average annual working hours among major economies imply that “time scarcity for consumption” may contribute to low household consumption rates.?Drawing on?the Beckerian model, this study explores the following questions: (1) Does extended working time reduce consumption in China? (2) Are there group-specific differences? The findings will inform reforms to China’s working hour system and stimulate household consumption.Based on?the Beckerian model, this study first distinguishes between time-consuming and non-time-consuming consumer goods and theoretically elucidates three channels through which working hours influence consumption expenditure—income effect, substitution effect, and time effect. Among them, the time effect captures the?direct influence?of working hour changes on residents’ consumption via time constraints. Its mechanism functions independently of the price system, shaping consumption decisions solely through variations in time resource endowments, and?applies exclusively to?time-consuming consumption. The income effect signifies the impact of working hour changes on the consumption of both time-consuming and non-time-consuming goods through income constraints,?demonstrating?the direct effect of wage income variations on these two consumption categories. The substitution effect describes the?interchangeability?between time-consuming and non-time-consuming goods. Second,?by exploiting?the policy shock of China’s 1994 adjustment of the working hour system, this study employs the difference-in-differences method with data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey to quantitatively assess the impact of working hours on household consumption. The empirical results reveal that the 1994 reform?significantly shortened?working hours and?spurred?a notable increase in annual consumption expenditure. Specifically, a 1% reduction in weekly working hours corresponds to a 1.59% rise in household consumption expenditure. Furthermore, the consumption-enhancing effect of shortened working hours was more pronounced among middle-income groups and populations with?limited?time endowments for consumption. Finally,?drawing on?richer consumption data from the China Household Finance Survey and China Time Use Survey, this study further examines the mechanism via the relationships between working hours and residents’ time-consuming, non-time-consuming, and total consumption. Finally, drawing on richer consumption data from the China Household Finance Survey (CHFS) and China Time Use Survey (CTUS), this study further examines the mechanism via the relationships between working hours and residents’ time-consuming consumption, non-time-consuming consumption, and total consumption. Under the condition of the fixed total time resources, shortening working hours significantly promote residents’ consumption by increasing their time on consumption activities, especially promote residents’ time-consuming consumption.Compared with existing research, this study makes three key contributions to the literature. First, it introduces a novel theoretical lens to explain China’s low consumption rate. Prior studies mainly attributed weak consumption to factors such as the social security system, gender imbalance, and consumption habits, while largely overlooking time’s role in consumption decisions. By extending conventional income and substitution effect analyses, this study isolates the time effect and uses working hours as a proxy to examine how time endowment influences residents’ consumption, thereby enriching theoretical discussions. Second, it provides a more precise estimate of working hour elasticity in household consumption expenditure in China, offering empirical evidence from Chinese practice to clarify the impact of time allocation on consumption. Additionally, it classifies goods and services into time-consuming and non-time-consuming, thereby shedding light on how working hours affect consumption structure. Third, this study reveals that excessive working hours significantly constrain consumption growth in China, with longer hours having a stronger inhibitory effect on specific groups, such as middle-income earners and those with limited time for consumption. These findings offer insights into designing policies to boost consumption through time allocation adjustments. | | 查看全文 相关附件： 下载数据代码附录 |
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