Following early economist Francis Y. Edgeworth's proposal to measure people's hedonic experiences as they go about their daily lives, we use a smartphone app that over seven years randomly asked a panel of 30, 928 UK residents (N = 2, 234, 753) about their momentary happiness and activities to estimate the value of time (V OT ), a key input into cost-benefit analyses. Exploiting the randomised timing of surveys for identification, we arrive at a V OT of £12 ($15) per hour of commuting and £24 ($31) per hour of waiting during commuting (e.g. due to congestion). A person who is stuck in traffic for one hour, therefore, would need to be compensated £24 ($31) to achieve the same level of happiness as a person who is not. Our unique data, which reflect the richness of people's lives, also allow us to estimate the V OT for 41 other daily activities. We are the first to value time, or indeed anything else, using hedonic experiences in real-time, which has the potential to value other intangibles too.

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Christian Krekel and George MacKerron

12 July 2023     Paper Number CEPDP1932

Download PDF - Back to Edgeworth? Estimating the value of time using hedonic experiences

This CEP discussion paper is published under the centre's Community Wellbeing programme.