LABOR-LEISURE TRADEOFF: The perpetual tradeoff faced by human beings between the amount of time spent engaged in wage-paying productive work and satisfaction-generating leisure activities. The key to this tradeoff is a comparison between the wage received from working and the amount of satisfaction generated from leisure. Such a comparison generally means that a higher wage entices people to spend more time working, which entails a positively sloped labor supply curve. However, the backward-bending labor supply curve results when a higher wage actually entices people to work less and to "consume" more leisure time. See also | labor | leisure | backward-bending labor supply curve | hierarchy of needs | household production | factor supply |
