Time Use and the Life-Course

Daily activity patterns have effects on the lifecourse. Short-range decisions about the allocation of unpaid work tasks among household members have substantial consequences for human capital formation. For example: if a couple decides that the female partner will take main responsibility for childcare, her human capital will likely suffer as a result. If the couple subsequently splits, her life-chances will have been damaged, perhaps permanently. Panel data are desirable to investigate these sorts of phenomena, but diary panel studies are very rare: we propose to experiment with data fusion methods (time diary data to non-diary panels surveys) for this purpose.

An alternative approach is to use information on the distribution of activities for particular groups during particular decades in particular countries, that may be linked to the material conditions of equivalent groups in aggregate in subsequent decades. For example: we can link estimates of the gender division of domestic labour in various countries at various historical points, to subsequent gender-wage differentials.