“Work”? On utility in the market and in the unpaid sphere

•It is important to integrate the significant (non-monetary) utility of work into socioeconomic thinking.•A model is presented that helps explain phenomena like accepting jobs with bad pay or workaholism.•The distinction between the social and the market sphere delivers a greater explanatory contribution than the increasingly blurred distinction between labor and leisure.

The argument put forward in this paper is that distinguishing between the social and the unpaid sphere has become much more critical as far as societal analysis is concerned than the increasingly blurred distinction between labor and leisure. It proposes a new household model in this respect to provide explanations for phenomena like the high degree of unhappiness experienced by the unemployed and the prevalence of workaholism. The model illustrates that ‘working’ can be as much a source of utility as ‘leisure activities’. The dependency of the budget situation on choices is outlined and the issue of the crowding out of activities in the unpaid sphere is formalized in the model. Policy implications such as decreased pressure on citizens to work and the introduction of a basic income are postulated.