Public Investment and Unpaid Work in India: Selective Evidence from Time-Use Data

Abstract

In recent years there has been an increased awareness of the need to lift the veil of statistical invisibility that covers unpaid work. The theory of allocation of time revealed that throughout history the amount of time spent on work in the market economy has never consistently been greater than that spent at nonmarket work and other activities (Becker, 1965). Becker therefore argued that allocation and efficiency of nonmarket working time may be more important to economic welfare than that of market working time, yet the attention paid by the economists to the market economy skews any paid to latter. Time-budget data, in this context, are increasingly becoming important as they capture the burden of unpaid work (in addition to the market economy), which, in turn, has significant macropolicy implications, in particular public investment.

The author is a Fellow at National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, India and a Research Associate at The Levy Economics Institute of Bard College. This is the revised version of the paper presented at UNDP Bureau for Development Policy-Levy Conference on ‘Unpaid Work and the Economy: Gender, Poverty and the Millennium Development Goals’ at The Levy Economics Institute of Bard College, New York, 1–3 October 2005. The author sincerely acknowledges the comments from Diane Elson, Rania Antonopoulos, Indira Hirway, Rathin Roy, Mark Blackden and Pinaki Chakraborty. The usual disclaimer applies.