A study of time allocation of Japanese households

In this study, we compare the patterns of time allocation of the young (age 25-39) and the elderly (age 65 or above), the employed and the unemployed, male and female Japanese households. We examine how economic rationality a nd the Japanese culture play their roles in determining the patterns of tim e allocations. Views are proposed that (1) the persisting male-female gap i n the non-market domestic working hours observed in Japan is better explain ed by the Japanese culture than the Japanese tax system or male-female wage differential, (2) the relatively low wage elasticity of labor supply of Ja panese young males is an indication of the fact that young males enjoy cons iderable amount of on-the-job leisure. Further, we observe that (3) the lif e-cycle pattern of time allocation to sleep land other time use for health care) is of the U-type so that the elderly invest more time on health care than the young, (4) sleeping time decreased in 1986 as compared to 1976 in Japan which might be due to the improvement of medical technology, and (5) contrary to US experience, higher wages are associated with longer hours of sleep for the Japanese young. The Appendix A provides a restrictive time-a llocation model with special reference to time use for health care which pr ovides theoretical support for empirical findings. (C) 1999 Elsevier Scienc e B.V.