The micro and macro of the changing nature of work and leisure

Call for papers

The micro and macro of the changing nature of work and leisure

June 4-5, 2020, University of Warwick

The nature of work and leisure is changing. Labour force participation has been decreasing steadily since 2000 while the media is filled with claims of rapid growth in informal employment in the “gig” economy. At the same time, technological change has a deep impact on the demand for work, by making some skills and some occupations easy to substitute by machines. What are the implications of these changes for productivity and unemployment policies? In this workshop, we aim to bring together researchers working on documenting and explaining the causes and implications of the changing nature of work for the micro and macro of labour economics.

In particular we are looking for submissions related to but not limited to:

• The casualisation of the labour market and the emergence of the gig economy

• Changes in patterns of the flexibility and decentralisation of employment

• Determinants of trends in the demand for skill

• Implications of these shifts for household behaviour and non-market time

• Changing determinants of job search and labour force participation

• Demographic shifts of the workforce and its consequences for the economy

We welcome empirical, quantitative and theoretical papers, and contributions at both an individual and aggregate level. Two keynote talks will be given by Daniel Hamermesh (UT Austin) and Laura Pilossoph (NY Fed). The workshop will be run from the morning of June 4 until lunch June 5. There will be dinner on the evening of June 4. Check out our website for updates and previous workshops.

Submission: The deadline for submission of papers or extended abstracts is 15 February 2019. We will give preference to submissions of full papers. Papers should be submitted to micromacrowarwick@gmail.com. Authors will be notified by April 2020.

Funding is available for economy-class travel and accommodation (up to 2 nights on June 3 and 4) for selected paper presenters.

Questions can be addressed to the workshop organisers: Christine Braun, Roland Rathelot and Thijs van Rens.