Time‐Inseparable Labor Productivity and the Workweek*

Abstract A centuries‐old tradition, the week constitutes a coordination device that allows for temporal agglomeration in both production and leisure. But does it induce coordination on the optimal workweek? Central to this question is the nature of time‐inseparability in labor productivity. Productivity is increasing in restfulness, which diminishes with work time, and in skill, which improves with work time. I show that, because skill accumulates and depreciates slowly, there are productivity gains from coordinating on a workweek with fewer but more frequent vacation days.