MichaelW, above, is exactly right. I’m not sure I believe Max is a real economist. He states:
”Our economic accounts place a zero value on leisure time, vacation time, time spent caring for children or for Grandma. Zero.”
The Market Supply Curve for Labor is a well-known model familiar to all economists. As leisure time increases due to higher pay, then beyond some point, increases in the price of labor result in smaller amounts of labor being supplied. This results in a “backward-bending” supply curve in the model.
Maybe Max just didn’t express himself clearly, but leisure time as a function of the supply curve for labor has been long established.
France has a terrible economic culture. President Sarkozy has a monumental job ahead of him. I wish him the best of luck, as he will need it.
