Seminar: "Fridays Off in Europe, Saturday Shift in China?", by Erik Gómez-Baggethun

Erik Gomez-Baggethun, from the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU), will be giving a seminar at ICTA-UAB. The event can also be followed online.

Seminar: "Fridays Off in Europe, Saturday Shift in China? Postgrowth perspectives on Working Time Reduction and Unequal Exchange" 

By Erik Gómez-Baggethun, Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU)

• Date: Monday, July 6th 2026
• Time: From 12 to 13.30h
• Venue: Sala Montseny (Z/022 & Z/023) ICTA-UAB & online https://bbb.somnuvol.coop/rooms/mon-kyl-qza-nny/join

Working time reduction (WTR) is a key proposal in debates on post-growth transitions, environmental sustainability, and human well-being. Advocates argue that shorter working hours can improve quality of life, reduce environmental pressures, and allow societies to direct productivity gains from technological change, automation, and AI toward leisure rather than increased production and consumption. Yet the conditions required to make substantial reductions in working time both feasible and just remain poorly understood. This presentation pursues two objectives. First, it explores the barriers, opportunities, and institutional arrangements needed to implement working time reduction at scale. Particular attention is given to policies that can distribute productivity gains through reduced working hours to ensure a fair distribution of socially necessary work, including working-time legislation and redistributive measures, wit attention to Josef Poper-Linkeus’ proposal for a Universal Civil Service scheme (in contrast to unconditional Basic Income schemes with strong currency in the degrowth literatures). Second, the paper examines the relationship between WTR and global labour justice. We investigate whether shorter working hours in affluent economies can be achieved without displacing labour burdens to lower-income countries through offshoring and unequal exchange. By bringing together ecological economics and research on the unequal exchange of labour through Extended Multi-Regional Input–Output (EMRIO) analysis, the paper explores whether working time reduction can contribute simultaneously to sustainability, well-being, and a more equitable global distribution of work.

Erik Gomez-Baggethun is a Professor of Environmental Governance at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU) and a Senior Research Associate at the University of Oxford. His research spans an array of topics in sustainability science, ecological economics, and postgrowth, topics in which he has authored ~200 scientific articles, book chapters, and policy reports. He served as president of the European (2022-2023) and International Society for Ecological Economics (2024-2025) and chaired the joint international Ecological Economics and Degrowth conference 2025 in Oslo (ISEE-Degrowth 2025). Further details about his work can be found on Google scholar profile.

Background readings

• Gómez-Baggethun, E. 2022. Rethinking work for sustainability and justice. Ecological Economics 200: 107506. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921800922001689
• Gómez-Baggethun, E., 2023. Work and needs in a finite planet: Reflections from ecological economics. In: Villamayor, S. and Muradian, R. (eds.) The Barcelona School of Ecological economics and Political Ecology. Springer Nature, pp. 357-366. https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-22566-6
• Godé, L., Vatn, A., & Gómez-Baggethun, E. 2026. Unequal exchange of labour and global justice: Principles for a fair international distribution of work. Ecological Economics, 240, 108838. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2025.108838    
• Godé, L., Mair, S., Gómez-Baggethun, E. 2026. Labour productivity gains or offshoring? Implications for post-growth proposals on the future of work. Ecological Economics, 239, 108778. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2025.108778