In Chapter 2, reference was made to the work patterns of Aborigines in remote Australia, which may vary somewhat from the norms of the general Australian society. This observation was based on the assumption that in remote Australia the traditional (pre-contact) Aboriginal value system remains intact to varying extents. Hence status may not be attached to high levels of income (and consumption) to the same extent as in the general society, and the traditional kinship system may result in a great deal of intra-clan reciprocity and redistribution (usually between kin). In this appendix an attempt is made to assess how these factors may modify a basic work-effort model.

The model presented in Figure 1 is based on the work of Moses (1962). Income is measured along the vertical axis and work and leisure along the horizontal. At position 0, leisure is at a maximum and zero work effort is expended, while at position Z′″ work effort is at a physical maximum. BAL is a hypothetical labour offer curve (that may or may not bend back at high levels of income) and U1 to U4 are indifference curves depicting different levels of utility: the higher the indifference curve the greater is utility. 0Z″ represents a ‘standard’ or ‘acceptable’ quantity of labour in European Australian terms. (It can represent either a 40-hour week or a 48-week working year.) Finally, the slope of the line 0Y′″ represents the award wage rate.