Essays on leisure of the Thai people

Abstract

This is a collection of essays on the leisure of the Thai people. The first essay, The Impact of Extra Income on Leisure: A Theoretical Foundation, develops the conceptual framework for exploring the individual’s leisure time allocation when his or her wages change. In the study, an individual’s income, as a part of budget constraints, is separated into two types, permanent and extra income. Permanent income is given for a fixed work time (for instance, a fixed monthly salary), while the extra income (for instance, overtime and bonus) depends on the length of work time. A model of time allocation is then analyzed for optimal leisure and consumption. Additionally, the paper proceeds to analyze the factors influencing the substitution effect, the income effect, and the total effect of leisure time allocation given a change in extra wages, as well as explores how people, with a variety of leisure/consumption preference respond dissimilarly to leisure time allocation. The results suggest that the magnitudes of those effects rely on the importance of leisure in an individual’s utility. In total, leisure time can either rise or fall in response to extra wage increase, depending on the individual’s utility function. A leisure lover is likely to allocate more time for leisure when an extra wage is reduced than will a consumption lover. The higher the degree of substitutability between leisure and consumption, the greater the magnitude of changes in an extra wage will be on leisure time use. Essay two, Is Leisure A Normal Good for the Thai People?, aims to explore, empirically, Thai people’s behavior regarding time use by employing Time Use Survey and Labor Force Survey to find the determinants of leisure time allocation, as well as the relationship between leisure time use and the individual’s income. Leisure is divided into four different measures, from the narrowest to the broadest. Narrowly defined as time spent for direct enjoyment, leisure is distinctively consumed by university graduates more than by lower-educated people by more than 10%, whereas single spend more leisure time than those of other statuses. However, how educational level and marital status affect leisure time use becomes unclear when leisure is more broadly defined as the residual of work. Thai people in the agricultural sector engage in more leisure time than others. During a week, Thai people enjoy leisure time the most on Sunday, while allocating the least leisure time to Monday. In addition, this study reveals the existence of a gender gap, where males have priority in terms of work choice. This means that males can choose to work in the market only while females are more likely to be responsible for non-market work, for example, housework and home production than males. Female wage workers take substantially less time for leisure, but a longer time for housework. The estimation of leisure time allocation in response to wage change among the Thais significantly indicates that people allocate more time for leisure in response to an increase in their hourly wage. This finding signifies that leisure is a normal good for the Thai people. In order to examine whether leisure, which is usually considered unproductive in relation to economic growth, positively impacts an individual’s wage in the labor market, Essay 3, Does Leisure Contribute to Wage Improvement of the Thai People?, aims to explore whether leisure activities can be correlated with wage improvement. The study categorizes leisure into seven types which theoretically provide a positive impact on wage change: computer use, media use, recreation, sport and exercise, sleeping and personal care, social participation and volunteer activities, and finally, learning during leisure time. The findings indicate that media use and recreation evidently contribute to the wage increase, while leisure time use for social participation and volunteer activities is negatively related to wage change. However, the study does not offer conclusions regarding how leisure activities such as computer use, sleep and personal care, as well as sport and exercise, influence wage change. The study extends the ideas in essay two by further examining how leisure time is affected by an individual’s wage and income. The results indicate a positive relationship between leisure time and wage, confirming that leisure is a normal good for the Thai people.