KOF Insights
The KOF Insights magazine provides you with background information, classifications and current analyses of the Swiss economy. Four times a year online, once in print. And always at the heartbeat of the economy.
False predictions
What was the problem? False predictions of history explained with a wink.
“For many ages to come the old Adam in us will be so strong that everybody will need to do some work to be satisfied. We shall (be) …. only too glad to have these tasks and habits. For three hours a day is quite enough to satiate the old Adam in most of us!” The British economist John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946) predicted a world in which working hours could be drastically reduced – for example to three hours a day or 15 hours a week – in order to share out the little remaining work. With fewer economic pressures, new values could develop and the focus could shift more towards leisure time. In 2023, however, full-time employees in Switzerland worked an average of 40 hours and 12 minutes per week. The boundaries between work and leisure are often blurred.
Source: «Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren» (1930),
John Maynard Keynes
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