富人是否工作更努力.doc

Do the wealthy work harder than the rest?
One of the most controversial issues surrounding inequality is work effort. Some on the right argue that top earners are successful in part because they work harder than others. Many on the left argue that the middle class and poor work just as hard maybe even harder, with multiple jobs - but that the economic deck is stacked against them.

A new study offers evidence that higher-educated (and therefore higher-earning) Americans do indeed spend more time working and less time on leisure than poorer income groups. In fact, while income inequality may be growing, 'leisure inequality' time spent on enjoyment is growing as a mirror image, with the low earners gaining leisure and the high earners losing.

The paper, by Orazio Attanasio, Erik Hurst and Luigi Pistaferri, finds that both income inequality and consumption inequality (the stuff that people buy) have increased over the past 20 years.

The more surprising discovery, however, is a corresponding leisure gap has opened up between the highly-educated and less-educated. Low-educated men saw their leisure hours grow to 39.1 hours in 2003-2007, from 36.6 hours in 1985. Highly-educated men saw their leisure hours shrink to 33.2 hours from 34.4 hours. (Mr. Hurst says that education levels are a 'proxy' for incomes, since they tend to correspond).

A similar pattern emerged for women. Low-educated women saw their leisure time grow to 35.2 hours a week from 35 hours. High-educated women saw their leisure time decrease to 30.3 hours from 32.2 hours. Educated women, in other words, had the largest decline in leisure time of the four groups.

(The study defines leisure as time spend watching TV, socializing, playing games, talking on the phone, reading personal email, enjoying entertainment and hobbies and other activities.)

Of course, some of the decline is due to non-educated people being unemployed or under-employed. Some of their leisure time is simply 'not being able to work' time.

Yet the research shows that up to half the gap is due to unemployment. Mr. Hurst says the leisure gap still remains between employed high-educated workers and employed low-educated workers. It also persists among unemployed high-education people and unemployed low-education people.

While the study doesn't seek to prove that the high earners work harder 'that story would be consistent with the data,' said Mr. Hurst.

富人是否工作更努力？
在人们围绕不平等展开的讨论中，工作努力程度的差异是最有争议的问题之一。一些右翼人士认为，赚钱多的人之所以能获得成功，部分原因是他们在工作中比其他人努力。许多左翼人士则认为，中产阶级和穷人工作同样努力，甚至也许在一些工作中更努力，但赚到的钱却没有那么多。
一项最新的研究结果表明，与收入更低的人群相比，学历更高（并因此拥有更高收入）的美国人的确在工作上花的时间更多，在休闲上花费的时间更少。事实上，尽管收入上的差距在增加，“休闲不平等”（指享受生活的时间）也在以同样的方式加剧：低收入者的休闲时间越来越多，而高收入者的休闲时间则不断减少。

一篇由阿塔纳西奥、赫斯特和皮斯塔菲利三人共同完成的论文发现，收入不平等和消费不平等的状况（指人们的购买的东西）在过去20年来有所加剧。

不过，更令人惊讶的发现是，高学历和低学历人群之间的休闲差距也在相应地扩大。低学历男性的休闲时间在2003年到2007年间增长到了每周39.1小时，而在1985年这一数字为36.6小时。高学历男性的休闲时间从每周34.4小时减少到了33.2小时。（赫斯特说，教育水平可以看作是收入水平的“等价物”，因为它们的变化往往是一致的。）

类似的情况在女性之中同样存在。低学历女性的休闲时间从每周35小时增加到了35.2小时。高学历女性的休闲时间从每周32.2小时下降到了30.3小时。换句话说，四种人群中，高学历女性的休闲时间减少的幅度最大。

（该研究将休闲时间定义为看电视、社交、玩游戏、打电话、阅读私人邮件、享受娱乐活动和个人爱好以及其他活动所占用的时间。）

当然，学历导致的休闲不平等的部分原因在于，有些没受过教育的人根本没有就业，或是没有充分就业。他们的休闲时间有些根本就是待业时间。

不过，研究结果显示，休闲时间的差距中有高达一半是失业造成的。赫斯特说，在高学历的就业者和低学历的就业者之间，休闲时间的差距仍然存在。这种差距也存在于未就业的高学历人群和未就业的低学历人群之间。

赫斯特说，尽管这份研究没有尝试证明高收入者工作更努力，但从数据来看，结果应该与这个观点相一致。