The 40-hour work week was designed in 1926 by Henry Ford. A century later, we still use it as the default despite:

- Productivity per worker increasing 400%+ since 1926

- Most knowledge work being done in 4-5 focused hours per day

- The remaining hours being filled with meetings, emails, and performative busyness

- Technology making most manual processes orders of magnitude faster

So where did the productivity gains go?

They were absorbed by three things: lifestyle inflation (bigger houses, more cars, more subscriptions), tax burden growth (total effective tax rates are 2-3x what they were in 1926), and monetary debasement (the dollar has lost 97% of its purchasing power since the Fed was created in 1913).

If productivity gains had been passed through to workers as reduced hours rather than debased wages, the average American would work 10-15 hours per week at the same real standard of living as their grandparents.

The 40-hour week is not a law of nature. It is a political choice that benefits institutions over individuals.

#economics #work #productivity #inflation #history #bitcoin #systemsthinking