Arnaud Wittmer explores our relationship with time on Euradio

Podcast “How do we spend our time in the economy?”, featuring Arnaud Wittmer, a PhD student in economics at BETA, on the programme “Economics: from concept to reality” broadcast on Euradio on 26 May 2026.

How do we actually divide our time between paid work, leisure and everyday tasks? Behind so-called “free” time lies, in reality, a significant amount of invisible work: domestic chores, looking after children, helping relatives or organising family life.

In this feature for Euradio, Arnaud Wittmer examines how economics analyses this distribution of time and the inequalities that persist within households. In particular, he highlights the still unequal distribution of unpaid work between women and men, despite the changes observed since the 1980s. To this end, he draws in particular on the work of two BETA researchers, Agathe Simon and Romane Frecheville-Faucon (“Reallocating the Clock: How public services are shaping women’s time use in Europe”, Romane Frecheville-Faucon and Agathe Simon, 2024). The programme thus highlights the role of public services, such as nurseries, in reducing these inequalities and in enabling women to reclaim free time.

A feature that, in just a few minutes, sheds light on how we organise our daily lives, balancing working hours, domestic responsibilities and public policy.