UNU-MERIT Working Papers Series
Does too much work hamper innovation? Evidence for diminishing returns of work hours for patent grants
Mehmet Guney Celbis & Serdar Turkeli #2014-053This study suggests that individual time is an important factor that
needs to be considered in innovation research. We define two types of
time: work time and free time. We find that work time has a positive but
diminishing effect on innovative output such that after a certain point
the innovation-enhancing role of work time is taken over by individual
free time. Using a sample of OECD countries and Russia, we estimate a
quadratic relationship between work time and per capita innovative
output. For a hypothetical economy that has no other holidays but
weekends, we estimate that individuals should not work more than about
6.6 hours a day for maximizing innovative output. We also present a
categorization of countries based on their innovative output and work
hours that may kindle interest for certain case-specific future
research.
Key words: Innovation, Patents, Working Hours, Time, Neo-Capital Theories, Network Failures
JEL Classification: O30, O31, J08, J22, M5
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