For subscribers
How much cash would it take for you to quit your job?
Economists are turning to new ways of finding out.
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
Looking at lottery winners is a surer way of finding a wealth shock that is truly unexpected.
ST PHOTO: KUA CHEE SIONG
Soumaya Keynes
Follow topic:
You would probably have to pay me rather a lot of money to persuade me to retire away from my lovely colleagues here at the Financial Times, although anyone who finds my writing particularly grating is welcome to make me an offer. Perhaps I would use the extra time to write more songs or read more books. I would definitely take more naps.
The question of how one might respond to a financial windfall of this sort is a fun thought experiment. But for policymakers it carries more weight. They have to consider whether a stimulus cheque or a tax break could encourage people to quit their job, or make them deaf to pleas from desperate employers. They have to ask how much money it takes to turn someone idle.
