quote:

---

"Joel Slemrod, a professor of business economics and public policy at U-M, along with another researcher at the University of Texas in Austin, found that people who are highly educated and earn a high salary can become addicted to their work."

"workaholism is likely to be highest among highly compensated, highly educated individuals, so that the appropriate corrective tax scheme will be highly progressive."

"Workaholism is subject to the same concerns about the individual as other addictions, is more likely to be a problem of higher-income individuals, and can, under conditions of jointness in the workplace or the household, generate negative spillovers onto individuals "

"The appropriate corrective policy for workaholics, who tend to make more money, might involve a more progressive income tax burden -- those with higher incomes pay a higher proportion of income in taxes -- than otherwise, Slemrod says."

"The evidence and theory suggest that the negative effects of workaholism can be addressed with a more progressive income tax system than would be appropriate in the absence of this behavior."

"The solution, the two economists add, ought to be the same, too: an income tax system that "not only features higher marginal tax rates than otherwise, but also marginal tax rates that rise with income more rapidly than otherwise."

---

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=788431

quote:

---

The Economics of Workaholism: We Should Not Have Worked on This Paper

Abstract:
A large literature examines the addictive properties of such behaviors as smoking, drinking alcohol and eating. We argue that for some people addictive behavior may apply to a much more central aspect of economic life: working. Workaholism is subject to the same concerns about the individual as other addictions, is more likely to be a problem of higher-income individuals, and can, under conditions of jointness in the workplace or the household, generate negative spillovers onto individuals around the workaholic. Using the Retirement History Survey and the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, we find evidence that is consistent with the idea that high-income, highly educated people suffer from workaholism with regard to retiring, in that they are more likely to postpone earlier plans for retirement. The evidence and theory suggest that the negative effects of workaholism can be addressed with a more progressive income tax system than would be appropriate in the absence of this behavior.

---

I, uh, think it's a joke, but who knows--it did get published in a professional journal.

~~

Now all we need is a cure for workassholism.

[ 08 April 2006: Message edited by: S1m0n ]

quote:

---

I think the obvious solution would be for the government to start taxing and regulating workohol.

---

You're wrong about the structure of that word, Magoo. A workoholic is someone addicted to work.

[ 22 May 2006: Message edited by: Sifo-Dyas ]

A specific type of workaholism that runs rife in the trade union and other social movements is "meetingitis" (réunionite):

"De réunion en réunion jusqu'à la révolution!"