4. A new study suggests that technology might provide improved leisure options, like video games, to potential workers, and that young men with low levels of education are increasingly staying home and playing video games instead of working.14 There has also been a concurrent decline in the labor force participation of young men with low levels of education.

a. Could the rapid rise in video game playing be a cause of the decreased labor force participation of loweducation young men? What other factors might explain these two simultaneous trends? In your response, you should use the labor market equilibrium figure (e.g., Exhibit 9.8) and also utilize the concepts of voluntary and involuntary unemployment.

b. The authors of this new study also find that these young men, as a group, have experienced an increase in self-reported happiness through the 2000s (according to the General Social Survey). How does this factor into your explanations in part a?