Time and the Socioeconomic Atom

Time is the essence of human experience. Time use statistics can be used to illuminate a wide range of public policy issues. But the survey materials on which these statistics are based are not widely available, nor are they well known to social statisticians. This lecture discusses a series of examples, some more and some less familiar, of the use of time diary materials, in the context of various labour supply, transport, childcare, national accounting, and other applications.