Temporal Deficit Ratio of Households: A Historical Perspective on Studying Absolute Time Poverty in Underdeveloped and Developing Countries

Historians have predominantly examined the phenomenon of time through a qualitative lens. Historians typically regard the measurement of time utilisation and scarcity as more suited for analysing contemporary issues, where statistical data from surveys are readily available. It is widely assumed that the measurement of time is not a viable field of inquiry within social history and historical sociology due to the scarcity of sources. In this article, we challenge this assumption by adapting the methodology commonly employed by economic historians in studying absolute poverty to investigate time poverty indirectly. We introduce a novel indicator, the Temporal Deficit Ratio of Households, which focuses on household units rather than individual perspectives. We contend that this proposed methodology can be developed utilising information derived from traditional employment surveys, encompassing household composition, age, education, and causes of unemployment. Numerous underdeveloped and developing countries, particularly in Latin America and Asia, conducted such surveys during the latter half of the twentieth century. In the final stage of our research, we apply the proposed methodology to the case of Chile, which lacked time-use surveys during the twentieth century but possesses regular employment surveys dating back to 1957. Our analysis concludes that, between 1960 and 1995, despite rapid economic growth and a decrease in absolute income poverty, the availability of time for families to engage in personal care for working-age members and provide external care for dependents remained consistent.