我
們經常聽說致富的秘訣在於辛勤工作。但事實果真如此嗎﹖
今天﹐經常有人會引用英國億萬富翁理查德•布蘭森(Richard Branson)的話證明﹐富人並不比任何其他人工作得更勤奮──他們只不過是運氣好而已。
Associated Press
這個人很勤奮嗎﹖
布蘭森是這樣說的：沒錯﹐企業家可能工作很努力﹐但我並不認為他們會比醫生、護士或者社會上的其他人更努力﹐然而他們這麼做就會獲得大筆的財富﹐伴隨財富還會產生巨大的責任﹐做善事的責任﹐可能是創辦新的企業﹐也可能是解決世界上一些看上去更難解決的問題……
他說的可能有道理。但是對富人工作習慣的比較研究卻發現了一個迥然不同的結果。
阿吉爾亞(Mark Aguiar)和赫斯特(Erik Hurst)教授把幾次大規模調查的結果進行組合統計（包括對隨機選擇的人記錄的詳細日記的研究）﹐他們發現高收入專業人士的工作時間與1965年時相比增長了﹐而低技能、低收入工人的年工作時間總量卻縮短了。
正如布魯克斯(David Brooks)在2006年的一篇文章里寫的那樣﹕在人類歷史上﹐富人工作的時間第一次超過了無產階級。
獲得諾貝爾獎的心理學家卡尼曼(Daniel Kahneman)的研究表明﹐成為富人通常強烈地預示著人們用來做開心的事情的時間少了﹐而完成必需要做的事則會花費更多的時間﹐因而常常會感到壓力。
他的研究發現﹐舉例來說﹐年薪低於2萬美元的人會把自己超過1/3的時間用於被動式休閑﹐比如輕鬆休息和看電視。比較而言﹐年薪超過10萬美元的人（比富人的生活還要富足）花在被動式休閑的時間則不足1/5。
我 個人的經驗告訴我﹐富人都在近乎瘋狂地工作。週一和週二的時候﹐我和一位億萬富翁在一起。他早上4:30就起床﹐一直到晚上9點都在召開會議和聽取業務報 告﹐然後吃晚飯﹐緊接著一直到凌晨2點都在處理電子郵件。而第二天早上5點﹐他就又起床﹐如此這般開始新一天的工作。一週七天都是這樣。10年來﹐這位企 業家連一天的假都沒有請過（這一點我是核實過的）。
當然﹐通過繼承遺產而致富的人可能情況會有所不同（儘管他們當中的大多數人工作也很勤 奮）。儘管如此﹐在一個薪資更低、對工人的要求卻更高的年代﹐大多數美國人的工作時間似乎都變長了。但是﹐經濟合作與發展組織(OECD)的數據卻表明﹐ 工人們平均的年工作時間總量從2000年的1,836個小時減少到了2009年的1,768個小時。
當然﹐一些人的工作時間減少並不是出於自己的選擇﹐而是迫不得已。而且﹐也許只有上流社會的人才可以幸運地長時間工作﹐以獲取巨額的報酬。另外﹐即使是自命不凡的富人也會承認辛勤工作只是他們獲得成功的部分原因。
話說回來﹐根據我們掌握的有限的數據﹐富人和上流社會的人們看上去的確要比其他人工作更努力。
你覺得富人比其他人工作更努力嗎。
Robert Frank
他說的可能有道理。但是對富人工作習慣的比較研究卻發現了一個迥然不同的結果。
阿吉爾亞(Mark Aguiar)和赫斯特(Erik Hurst)教授把幾次大規模調查的結果進行組合統計（包括對隨機選擇的人記錄的詳細日記的研究）﹐他們發現高收入專業人士的工作時間與1965年時相比增長了﹐而低技能、低收入工人的年工作時間總量卻縮短了。
正如布魯克斯(David Brooks)在2006年的一篇文章里寫的那樣﹕在人類歷史上﹐富人工作的時間第一次超過了無產階級。
獲得諾貝爾獎的心理學家卡尼曼(Daniel Kahneman)的研究表明﹐成為富人通常強烈地預示著人們用來做開心的事情的時間少了﹐而完成必需要做的事則會花費更多的時間﹐因而常常會感到壓力。
他的研究發現﹐舉例來說﹐年薪低於2萬美元的人會把自己超過1/3的時間用於被動式休閑﹐比如輕鬆休息和看電視。比較而言﹐年薪超過10萬美元的人（比富人的生活還要富足）花在被動式休閑的時間則不足1/5。
我 個人的經驗告訴我﹐富人都在近乎瘋狂地工作。週一和週二的時候﹐我和一位億萬富翁在一起。他早上4:30就起床﹐一直到晚上9點都在召開會議和聽取業務報 告﹐然後吃晚飯﹐緊接著一直到凌晨2點都在處理電子郵件。而第二天早上5點﹐他就又起床﹐如此這般開始新一天的工作。一週七天都是這樣。10年來﹐這位企 業家連一天的假都沒有請過（這一點我是核實過的）。
當然﹐通過繼承遺產而致富的人可能情況會有所不同（儘管他們當中的大多數人工作也很勤 奮）。儘管如此﹐在一個薪資更低、對工人的要求卻更高的年代﹐大多數美國人的工作時間似乎都變長了。但是﹐經濟合作與發展組織(OECD)的數據卻表明﹐ 工人們平均的年工作時間總量從2000年的1,836個小時減少到了2009年的1,768個小時。
當然﹐一些人的工作時間減少並不是出於自己的選擇﹐而是迫不得已。而且﹐也許只有上流社會的人才可以幸運地長時間工作﹐以獲取巨額的報酬。另外﹐即使是自命不凡的富人也會承認辛勤工作只是他們獲得成功的部分原因。
話說回來﹐根據我們掌握的有限的數據﹐富人和上流社會的人們看上去的確要比其他人工作更努力。
你覺得富人比其他人工作更努力嗎。
Robert Frank
Do the Rich Work Harder?
We often hear that the key to wealth is hard work.
But is it really?
British billionaire Richard Branson is quoted today as saying that the wealthy don't work harder than everyone else-they are just fortunate.
'Yes, entrepreneurs may work hard, but I don't think they actually work any harder than, say, doctors, nurses or other people in society, and yet tremendous wealth comes with it and therefore enormous responsibility comes with that wealth, responsibility to do good things, maybe create new businesses and maybe tackle some of the more seemingly intractable problems in the world…'
He may be right. But studies on the comparative work habits of the wealthy tell a different story.
Research by professors Mark Aguiar and Erik Hurst combined the results of several large surveys (including studies where randomly chosen subjects kept detailed time diaries), and found that the working time for upper-income professionals has increased compared with 1965, while total annual working time for low-skill, low-income workers has decreased.
As David Brooks put it in a 2006 column: 'For the first time in human history, the rich work longer hours than the proletariat.'
Research by Daniel Kahneman, the Nobel Prize-winning psychologist, shows that 'being wealthy is often a powerful predictor that people spend less time doing pleasurable things and more time doing compulsory things and feeling stressed.'
His study found that people who earn less than $20,000 a year, for instance, spent more than a third of their time in passive leisure, like kicking back and watching TV. By contrast, those earning more than $100,000 a year (more affluent than wealthy), spent less than a fifth of their time in passive leisure.
My own experience tells me that the wealthy work insanely hard. I spent Monday and Tuesday with a billionaire who got up at 4:30 a.m., held meetings and business briefings until 9 p.m., ate dinner, then worked on emails until 2 a.m. He woke up at 5 a.m. the next morning, and started all over again. Seven days a week. This entrepreneur hadn't taken a day off in 10 years (and I checked).
Of course, the inherited wealthy might be a different story (though plenty of them work hard, too). Still, at a time of lower pay and increasing demands on workers, it might seem like most Americans are working longer hours. But according to the OECD, total average annual work hours for those who are employed fell to 1,768 in 2009, from 1836 in 2000.
Of course, some may be working less not out of choice but by necessity. And maybe the upper-class are the only ones fortunate to be able to work long hours for hefty compensation. What is more, even the proud wealthy would admit that hard work accounts for only part of their success.
Still, based on the limited data we have, wealthy and upper-income folks really do seem to worker harder than everyone else.
Do you think the wealthy work harder than everyone else?
Robert Frank
But is it really?
British billionaire Richard Branson is quoted today as saying that the wealthy don't work harder than everyone else-they are just fortunate.
'Yes, entrepreneurs may work hard, but I don't think they actually work any harder than, say, doctors, nurses or other people in society, and yet tremendous wealth comes with it and therefore enormous responsibility comes with that wealth, responsibility to do good things, maybe create new businesses and maybe tackle some of the more seemingly intractable problems in the world…'
He may be right. But studies on the comparative work habits of the wealthy tell a different story.
Research by professors Mark Aguiar and Erik Hurst combined the results of several large surveys (including studies where randomly chosen subjects kept detailed time diaries), and found that the working time for upper-income professionals has increased compared with 1965, while total annual working time for low-skill, low-income workers has decreased.
As David Brooks put it in a 2006 column: 'For the first time in human history, the rich work longer hours than the proletariat.'
Research by Daniel Kahneman, the Nobel Prize-winning psychologist, shows that 'being wealthy is often a powerful predictor that people spend less time doing pleasurable things and more time doing compulsory things and feeling stressed.'
His study found that people who earn less than $20,000 a year, for instance, spent more than a third of their time in passive leisure, like kicking back and watching TV. By contrast, those earning more than $100,000 a year (more affluent than wealthy), spent less than a fifth of their time in passive leisure.
My own experience tells me that the wealthy work insanely hard. I spent Monday and Tuesday with a billionaire who got up at 4:30 a.m., held meetings and business briefings until 9 p.m., ate dinner, then worked on emails until 2 a.m. He woke up at 5 a.m. the next morning, and started all over again. Seven days a week. This entrepreneur hadn't taken a day off in 10 years (and I checked).
Of course, the inherited wealthy might be a different story (though plenty of them work hard, too). Still, at a time of lower pay and increasing demands on workers, it might seem like most Americans are working longer hours. But according to the OECD, total average annual work hours for those who are employed fell to 1,768 in 2009, from 1836 in 2000.
Of course, some may be working less not out of choice but by necessity. And maybe the upper-class are the only ones fortunate to be able to work long hours for hefty compensation. What is more, even the proud wealthy would admit that hard work accounts for only part of their success.
Still, based on the limited data we have, wealthy and upper-income folks really do seem to worker harder than everyone else.
Do you think the wealthy work harder than everyone else?
Robert Frank
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