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https://history.stackexchange.com/questions/70816/did-medieval-peasants-work-150-days-a-year

"The one economist this number can be traced to now says its a huge underestimate.

In 1986 economist Gregory Clark wrote a working paper that (according to citers) contained this estimate. It doesn't appear he published it, but it got cited. He actually did for real publish a new paper in 2018 raising that number up to an estimate of 250-300 days. That's quite a revision!

However, in the meantime a popular book was published by a sociologist that used that earlier lower number of 150. "The Overworked American: The Unexpected Decline of Leisure". Since then this number went wild on the internet (likely because its a shocking number, or perhaps because people like that number and want it to be true)."

"The Clark citation is by comparison more fair and accurate. That is not to say it is without issues, however. First, the citation is to a working paper that does not appear to have ever been published fully – Clark himself does not list it anywhere on his publications, and other attempts to find it only make reference to it having been cited in Schor’s work. Nonetheless, it would be reasonable to ask if work from 1986 is still an authoritative source on the subject or should be used as evidence. The answer is very hilariously no: Gregory Clark doesn’t believe that Clark 1986 is correct. The Atlantic published an article on the debate over the working hours subject on May 6th, 2022, in which Clark is quoted as rejecting the prior conclusion and noting his current work on the subject instead estimates nearly 300 days of labor per year – quite in line with the 308 days estimate by Keynon."

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