主题：Why the Wealthy Work: Entrepreneurship, Scale, and Owner Time
主讲人：罗弥 北京大学
主持人：麦东仁 暨南大学
时间：2026年10月26日（周一）上午10:00-11:30
地点：暨南大学石牌校区经济学院大楼（中惠楼）306室
摘要
Across U.S. households, hours worked rise with wealth, contradicting the standard income effect by which the rich should work less. We trace this puzzle to the production side and show that it is concentrated among entrepreneurs, whose hours climb steeply with wealth while workers’ hours stay flat. Drawing on data with rich information on entrepreneurs, we establish that the owner’s own time is a productive input in its own right, raising firm scale independently of capital, and that returns to scale rise with firm scale. We build and estimate an occupational-choice model in which the owner’s time is productive and capital is collateral-constrained. Wealth loosens the constraint and makes the owner’s time more valuable. The estimated model matches the upward entrepreneurial hours–wealth gradient alongside a flat worker profile. The financial friction thus shapes hours on both sides of the labor market.
主讲人简介
罗弥，北京大学光华管理学院应用经济系助理教授，毕业于美国纽约大学，专业为宏观经济学。在加入北大之前，她曾任职于美国埃默里大学经济学系。罗弥教授的目前主要从事家庭金融和宏观劳动的研究，尤其是财富不平等和财富代际流动等议题。她着眼于宏观政策分析，包括财产税、学生贷款还款政策优化等公共议题。她的论文发表于 American Economic Review 等国际期刊上。目前任 Journal of Asian Economics 副编辑。
校对 | 麦东仁
责编 | 彭毅
初审 | 李仲达
终审发布 | 何凌云
（来源：暨南大学经济学院微信公众号）
