This is why I feel the productivity argument is really very weak. There are many people who seem to be quite productive even working 40-50 hours per week.
I think a much, much better argument is that working 40 hours a week is a waste of my life. I value my time quite highly because I have numerous and varied interests. So even if my productivity (and therefore, at least theoretically, my income) was maximized at 40 hours per week, I still wouldn't want to work that much.
No employer is going to index my salary to the marginal value of my time, they use the marginal value of my output (just as they should). So in a world where my choices are to work full-time or to work part-time at a greatly reduced hourly rate, it is impossible for me to optimize the amount that I work relative to the marginal value of my time. I, and I suspect many others, always end up at a sub-optimal equilibrium.
I agree SO much with all this. "Working 40 hours a week is a waste of my life" is also how I feel, but a lot of people will inevitably call you lazy. And yes, it's very infuriating that part-time jobs don't pay enough to live (at least in my country), while full-time ones leave you with money you don't have anything to spend it, but little time.
This is why I feel the productivity argument is really very weak. There are many people who seem to be quite productive even working 40-50 hours per week.
I think a much, much better argument is that working 40 hours a week is a waste of my life. I value my time quite highly because I have numerous and varied interests. So even if my productivity (and therefore, at least theoretically, my income) was maximized at 40 hours per week, I still wouldn't want to work that much.
No employer is going to index my salary to the marginal value of my time, they use the marginal value of my output (just as they should). So in a world where my choices are to work full-time or to work part-time at a greatly reduced hourly rate, it is impossible for me to optimize the amount that I work relative to the marginal value of my time. I, and I suspect many others, always end up at a sub-optimal equilibrium.