Want to know:
In a column on bloomberg.com, Noah Smith notes that people who work at a computer have many ways to slack off or waste time—posting to Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram; watching YouTube videos; or playing video games—that weren't available to workers in previous decades. He calculates that:"The average working American spends about 34.4 hours on the job. If we assume that's five days a week, it means that one hour of slacking per day means that true work hours are really only 85.5 percent of the official number."Source: Noah Smith, "Goofing Off at Work Masks Rising Productivity," bloomberg.com, May 10, 2017.If Smith's estimates are correct, is the rate of growth of labor productivity as measured by government statistics overstated or understated? Briefly explain.A.Overstated, because regardless of the amount of output produced per hour, workers are not producing efficiently.B.Understated, assuming that workers are producing the output in fewer hours than the official work hours.C.Understated, because the amount of physical capital is not increasing at a fast enough pace to keep workers busy.D.Overstated, because workers could be using that hour of slacking each day to engage in some other activity.
Get a detailed, AI-powered explanation for this question and thousands more on StudyFetch.
Get the Answer for FreeHow StudyFetch Helps You Master This Topic
AI-Powered Answers
Get instant, detailed explanations powered by AI that understands your course material.
Deep Understanding
Go beyond surface-level answers with step-by-step breakdowns and examples.
Personalized Learning
Spark.E adapts to your learning style and helps you connect ideas.
Practice & Test
Turn any question into flashcards, quizzes, and practice tests to solidify your knowledge.
Explore More Questions
- Trade between individuals and between nations leads to:
- The Fed is currently engaging in quantitative tightening(QT), which is the opposite of QE. Explain how the effects of QT alter the yield curve for US Treasuries.
- During normal economic times, when there is not "excessive" unemployment or inflation, discretionary fiscal policyA.is used frequently to effectively fine-tune the economy.B.is not used due to legal restrictions on the ability of Congress to make policy.C.is probably not very effective due to lags and the uncertainty created by repeated tax policy changes.D.is a way of effectively spurring economic growth.