Time Use, Productivity, and Household-Centric Measurement of Welfare in the Digital Economy

Abstract

There is substantial interest in developing a broader understanding of progress than the standard indicator, real GDP, not least because digital technology is significantly changing both production within the GDP boundary and household activity outside the boundary. Market and household production and leisure now all involve substantial time online. This paper describes a measurement framework that would encompass extended utility combining time allocation – over working for pay, producing at home, and leisure – with monetary measures of objective or subjective well-being during each activity and new ways of measuring productivity in digitalized activities. Implementation would require time use statistics in addition to well-being data and direct survey evidence on the shadow price of time. We advocate an experimental set of time and well-being accounts and discuss their data requirements.