探索经济繁荣与时间压力并存之谜——基于影子工作、技术进步的分工经济学分析

Exploring the Mystery of the Coexistence of Economic Prosperity and Time Pressure——An Economic Analysis to the Division of Labor Based on Shadow Work and Technological Progress

本文把产消者在专业工作、自给自足、影子工作(购物、物品管理和家务)、消费和休闲活动上使用的时间引入新兴古典经济学模型,分析影响时间分配的因素,探究在经济进步中生活节奏加快、休闲时间稀缺之谜。该创新性模型演绎得出了丰富的结果。交易技术进步和生产技术进步均能减少自给自足时间、推动分工演进、促进交易品种类和数量以及人均真实收入增长,但也会增加影子工作时间、提高产品消费速度;其中,交易技术进步还会增加工作时间、缩减消费和休闲时间,而生产技术进步既可能增加、又可能减少工作时间(取决于不同的条件),还会同时增加消费和休闲时间,但会提高影子工作时间占比、压低消费和休闲时间占比。由于工作时间增加、影子工作时间加长或占比增大、产品消费速度升高都意味着生活节奏加快,因此交易技术进步产生"富忙"现象,而生产技术进步既可能引起"富忙"现象,又可能形成"富闲"趋势。此外,学习成本会削低技术进步的正效应,引起"穷忙"现象。本文发现,技术进步尤其是交易技术进步,虽然推动了经济繁荣,却加剧了休闲时间稀缺。因此,强化智能制造技术的应用、降低学习成本、培育和发展"时间市场"对促进经济增长、减轻时间压力具有重要的现实意义。

A new classical economic model in which each prosumer is involved in the division of labor is made to analyze what factors influence his/her time for work in the market(TW), time for household production(THP), time for shadow work(TSW, e.g., shopping, management of goods, and housework), time for consumption(TC) and time for leisure(TL) and to elucidate why with economic prosperity the pace of life accelerates and the scarcity of TL rises. A lot of outcomes are deduced. Technological progress in both trading and production not only leads to a growing division of labor, an increase in both variety and quantity of traded goods, an increase in real income per capita and a decrease in THP, but also results in an increase in TSW and an increasing consumption speed. In particular, technological progress in trading lengthens TW and shortens TC and TL. However,technological progress in production probably increases or decreases TW, which is dependent on different circumstances, and increases TC and TL, increases the proportion of TSW and decreases the proportion of both TC and TL. Obviously, longer TW, longer TSW or larger TSW proportion, and higher consumption speed indicate faster pace of life, consequently technological progress in trading creates "the busy rich" and technological progress in production either creates "the busy rich" or makes a trend toward the appearance of "the leisurely rich".Furthermore, a rapid escalation of learning costs will diminish positive effects yielded by technological progress,leading to the presence of "the busy poor". It is demonstrated that technological progress, particularly that in trading, increasingly creates material wealth but concurrently accelerates the pace of life. Therefore, strengthening the application of intelligent manufacturing technology, reducing learning costs, or developing markets which may match different groups of people with asymmetric time for leisure could alleviate time pressure of each person.